CLEARFIELD – The District 5 Tournament trail for the Clearfield Little League 11-Year-Old All-Stars ended with a 5-1 loss to State College American in the elimination bracket final at William McNamee Memorial Field Monday evening.
Clearfield outhit the winners 8-6, but Robby Carns\’ RBI-double over rightfielder Michael Caswell\’s head in the fifth inning was the only one with teammates in scoring position.
Seven of the nine runners stranded by Clearfield were stationed at second or third base.
Clearfield also committed five miscues that were instrumental in SC American\’s scoring in the first and fifth innings.
Only two runs off C.J. Gathagan were earned. He struck out seven and walked two.
SC American, the home team via a coin toss, wasted no time getting on the scoreboard after winning pitcher Nate Holobar set down Clearfield in order.
Ryan Karstetter led off with a solid single through the box and scored on Johnny Weakland\’s sharp grounder to right. Three Clearfield errors factored into two more runs.
Gathagan retired 11 of 13 batters and before SC American added two insurance markers in the fifth inning.
Karstetter again was the catalyst, singling up the middle, racing to third when the ball was misplayed and dashing home on a wild pitch. Weakland then beat out a slow roller to the left side, stole second and scored when Luke Michael singled through the left side for his second RBI.
Clearfield had broken through against Holobar in the fourth when Jon Janocko\’s fly ball to short center fell between three fielders and bounced away for a double and Carns chased him home.
Manager Carl Gathagan\’s team posed another threat in the fifth, loading the bases against Weakland on hits by Josh Sorbera and Spencer Herrington and a two-out, intentional walk to Janocko.
However, the SC American relief hurler registered his third strikeout of the inning and went on to earn a save.
One-out singles by Carns and Kyle Kushner gave Clearfield fans some hope in the sixth, but the game ended when Caswell robbed Sorbera with a diving catch that prevented the tying run from coming to the plate.
Carns and Janocko each had two hits for Clearfield, which finished 2-2.
SC American\’s third elimination game victory sets up an opportunity to avenge its 3-2 semifinal loss to Mifflin County (2-0) Wednesday with the district title at stake. If SC American prevails, the two teams will meet again Friday.
CLEARFIELD — 1
Josh Sorbera c 4010, Spencer Herrington ss 3010, C.J. Gathagan p 3000, Jon Janocko 1b 2120, Sawyer Rowles 3b 3010, Josh Kennedy lf 1000, Nate Brady lf 0000, Jallin Norris lf 1000, Robby Carns 2b 3021, Kyle Kushner rf 3010, Zach Timchak cf 2000, Dylan McGarry cf 1000. TOTALS: 26 1 8 1.
STATE COLLEGE AMERICAN — 5
Ryan Karstetter ss 2220, Johnny Weakland 2b-p 3221, Calvin Sichler cf 3000, Luke Michael 3b 3112, Christian Restivo c 2001, Ryan Dunkleberger lf 1000, Britt McKinley lf 1010, Michael Caswell rf 2000, Mikey White 1000, Nate Holobar p-2b 1000, Matt Thomas 2b 1000. TOTALS: 22 5 6 4.
Score by Innings
Clearfield 000 100 – 1 8 5
SC American 300 02x – 5 6 0
Errors – Herrington, Janocko, Norris, Kushner, Timchak. DP – Clearfield 1 (Kushner, Carns and Janocko). LOB – Clearfield 9; SC American 3. 2B – Janocko. SB – Weakland.
Pitching
Clearfield – Gathagan 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
SC American – Holobar 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; Weakland 2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
W – Holobar (1-0). L – Gathagan (0-1). Save – Weakland.
Umpires – J.R. Rosselli (home plate), Todd Orsich (bases).
