DUBOIS — It did not look, nor feel, like baseball weather, especially when a championship was on the line. But, despite the skies looking grey and rather questionable, along with the rain from early in the day, the District IX title game would still happen between the Clearfield Bison and the Punxsutawney Chucks. The second meeting between these two teams in a matter of eight days would happen on neutral ground, at Showers Field in DuBois.
The first game between the Chucks and Bison went 10 innings, with all runs being scored in the final inning to decide a winner. Thursday’s title matchup went half that distance, as Punxsutawney’s bats lit up the night. When it was said and done, Clearfield’s season came to a close as the Class AAAA runner-up, falling 13-3 in a five-inning contest.
Clearfield started the evening, as the game began shortly after 6:30 pm, with a walk by Kam Kushner. After a fielder’s choice by O’Brian Owens moved Kushner to second, Christian Welker managed to get a shallow single just past the shortstop to put runners on the corners. But, during his at-bat, the weather was making things a challenge. Starting pitcher for Punxsutawney Coy Martino was having to dry his hand constantly between pitches as the ball was becoming very slick. He would hurl a ball to Colton Bumbarger before the umpires called a timeout and had players head to the dugout. Despite Showers Field having a drain system for the turf, safe playing conditions had disappeared, as the rain delay put a stop with one out in the first inning.
After about 15 minutes, players were allowed back to warm up, and shortly thereafter, the game resumed. It was a good thing for Clearfield, as Bumbarger would hit a sacrifice fly to center field, which would be caught for the second out, but it did allow Kushner to cross home to give Clearfield the early lead.
That lead would last until the bottom of the second, as the Chucks got the bats going in a big way.
Parker Stahlman led off with a single to shallow center, advancing to second on a wild pitch. Lucas Mannetti would then walk, and Landan Temchula grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Stahlman scoring on an error by Matt Irvin. Two batters later, a groundout by Lucas Silverstein allowed Mason Noerr, who came in as a courtesy runner, to cross home and give Punxsutawney the lead. It was not the end of the scoring, as Maddox Hendrick hit a sacrifice fly to plate Temchulla, then Brody Stouffer singled to left just inside the line to let Nate Kendrick cross home. The four-run inning would be the last lead change of the night, but Clearfield was not going down quietly.
Christian Welker grounded out in the third, but his hit was enough to allow Owens to get home after he reached on an error to start the inning. Craig Mays, who started the game for Clearfield on the hill, then singled to right to plate Noah Wriglesworth to get the Bison within one run, 4-3, through the middle of the third.
For Clearfield, that was as close as they would get, as Mays would see his time on the bump end in the bottom of the third as Jayce Brothers took over.
After the second error of the game for the Bison allowed Martino to advance all the way to third to start the inning, Stahlman singled to left to bring him home. Two batters later, Temchulla blasted a ball to the left field wall for an RBI-double to make it 6-3. Two runners crossed home when Hetrick doubled into center, and then Stouffer’s sacrifice fly to center made it 9-3.
Mays would be relieved in the third, but would take the loss on the night for the Bison in a two and one-third inning effort, giving up nine runs, with only two of them earned.
By contrast, Martino would have a decent outing on the night, pitching three innings and giving up the only three runs by Clearfield. He would be relieved by Nevin Day, who would pitch a solid fourth inning to give the Chucks a chance to plate more batters.
An RBI-single by Stahlman would get things going, then Temchulla plated another run two batters later to make it 11-3. After Nate Kendrick’s RBI-single to right made it 12-3, Connor Peacock would take to the hill for more relief. In the end, he would see Temchulla score on a wild pitch to make it 13-3, and give Punxsutawney a chance to close it out in the fifth to secure another district championship.
A groundout and a strikeout left it up to Braison Patrick to keep the game going, and he did so on a 1-1 pitch that he singled over the second baseman to get on first. Peacock then walked to put runners on first and second, then both of them would advance while Irvin was at the plate on a wild pitch. It was not about trying to tie the game by then, it was a matter of trying to get one more inning of play to keep hopes alive. Unfortunately, the 2-2 pitch was right where Irvin felt he could connect, but the ball would make it past and the strikeout would strand two runners, end the game, and give the Chucks a championship.
The Bison end the 2025 season with a final record of 9-12, while Punxsutawney moves into the next round of the PIAA playoffs, playing on Monday
SCORE BY INNING
Clearfield 102 00 – 3 5 4
Punxsutawney 045 4X – 13 10 1
Clearfield – 3
Kam Kushner-cf 2100, O’Brian Owens-2b 3100, Christian Welker-3b 3011, Colton Bumbarger-c 2001, Noah Wriglesworth-lf 3100, Braison Patrick-ss 2010, Craig Mays-p 1011, Jayce Brothers-cr/p 0000, Connor Peacock-p 0000, Matt Irvin-1b 3010, Hayden Rumsky-rf 2010. TOTALS 21 3 5 3.
Punxsutawney – 13
Maddox Hetrick-2b 3013, Brody Stouffer-cf 3012, Nevin Day-ss/p 3010, Coy Martino-p/ss 2200, Parker Stahlman-1b 3232, Nolan Stahlman-cr 0100, Lucas Mennitti-c 2010, Mason Noerr-cr 0200, Landan Temchula-3b 3322, Nate Kendrick-rf 2221, Lucas Silverstein-lf 2101. TOTALS 23 13 10 11.
2B: Mennitti, Day, Hetrick, Temchula
SF: Bumbarger/Hetrick, Stouffer
HBP: Patrick
SB: Brothers, Welker
E: Irvin-2, Rumsky, Patrick/Day
Pitching
- Clearfield: Mays-2.1 IP, 5 H, 9 R, 2 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB; Brothers-0.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 SO, 1 BB; Peacock-1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB.
- Punxsutawney: Martino-3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 3 BB; Day-2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB.
W-Martino
L-Mays (3-3)
S-Day
Clearfield Baseball Scoreboard
03/18: at Central 14 – 8, 1 – 0
03/20: BELLEFONTE ppd, 1 – 0
03/21: BELLEFONTE 0 – 10, 1 – 1
03/25: BISHOP GUILFOYLE 6 – 5, 2 – 1
03/27: TYRONE 5 – 8, 2 – 2
04/01: at Hollidaysburg 7 – 8, 2 – 3
04/04: at Somerset 1 – 16, 2 – 4
04/08: HUNTINGDON ppd. 2 – 4
04/11: FOREST HILLS ppd. 2 – 4
04/14: at Philipsburg-Osceola 3 – 9, 2 – 5
04/16: BELLWOOD-ANTIS ppd. 2 – 5
04/17: FOREST HILLS 3 – 13, 2 – 6
04/22: at Penns Valley 11 – 0, 3 – 6
04/24: DUBOIS 6 – 4, 4 – 6
04/26: BELLWOOD-ANTIS ppd. 4 – 6
04/28: BALD EAGLE AREA 2 – 1, 5 – 6
04/29: BELLWOOD-ANTIS 5 – 9, 5 – 7
04/30: BRADFORD 10 – 3, 6 – 7
05/01: HUNTINGDON 3 – 4, 6 – 8
05/02: BISHOP CARROLL 10 – 0, 7 – 8
05/05: at Greater Johnstown 15 – 10, 8 – 8
05/07: ST. MARYS 2 – 6, 8 – 9
05/09: CENTRAL 6 – 3, 9 – 9
05/12: at Bellefonte 0 – 1, 9 – 10
05/14: at Punxsutawney 4 – 5 (10 inn.), 9 – 11
05/22: vs. Punxsutawney 3 – 13, 9 – 12
District IX Championship Class AAA (in Dubois)
