CLEARFIELD, Pa. (D9Sports) – For the first time in 14 years the Punxsutawney Chucks baseball program will not be District 9 champions.
Clearfield Bison head coach Sid Lansberry said he was sick and tired of hearing about Punxsutawney’s streak.
“It is great for us to knock them off but I wasn’t concerned about the 13 years,” Lansberry said. “This is the year that counts. The other 13 years are gone.”
Lansberry’s Bison made this year count defeating Punxsutawney, 8-7, in 10 innings in the District 9 Class 4A semifinals.
It was a game in a game that ended on a bases-loaded soft chopper by Zane Morgan to third baseman Logan Johnston, whose throw to the plate wasn’t in time.
Clearfield rallied from a 7-4 deficit in the sixth to tie the game with a pair of runs on bases-loaded walks in the seventh.
Down 7-5 going to the bottom of the seventh, Johnston took over for Brandon Matthews on the mound and immediately struck out Thayne Morgan to start the inning.
But Reese Wilson and Zane Morgan had back-to-back singles to put runners at first and second before Tommy Hazel flew out to center for the second out.
However, three consecutive Clearfield batters drew walks with a free pass to Eli Glass loading the bases, a walk to Ty Bender forcing home a run and a third walk, this time to Will Myers, tying the game at seven.
“We saw a different pitcher on the mound,” Lansberry said. “Matthews is a good pitcher. When we saw they changed arms, we knew this was it.”
According to Lansberry, Clearfield got a key run in the sixth that set up the seventh.
Glass started things with a sharp single up the middle and later moved to second on a wild pitch. Matthews then got two quick outs bringing up Seth Bumbarger, who hit a weak grounder to the first-base side of the rubber.
Matthews field the ball and threw it the first but Isaac Stouffer couldn’t hold on to the throw allowing Glass to score.
“Things looked pretty bleak right there,” Lansberry said. “We could have quit, but we kept battling.”
With the game tied at four going to the sixth, Punxsutawney seemed to take control with a three-run inning.
Darrin Byers lead off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Jacob Weaver sacrifice bunt. Caleb Smith worked a one-out walk to put runners on first and second. Matthews then grounded out to the shortstop moving the runners to second and third base.
Myers then issued two straight walks to give the Chucks a 5-4 lead. Joey DiPietro added a two-run single to make it 7-4, ending Myers day on the mound.
The inning made it quite a turnaround for Punxsutawney, which trailed 4-1 after four with all five of the runs coming in the fourth inning.
The Chucks got on the board first with a Byers single giving them a 1-0 lead.
Clearfield answered back in the bottom of the inning with four runs of its own.
Zane Morgan led off the inning for the Bison with a single through the left side. With Morgan on first Clearfield executed a perfect hit-and-run with Hazel at the plate to put runners on the corners.
Glass grounded out to the Chucks second baseman bringing in Morgan to make it 1-1.
With runners on second and third base, Myers singled to left-center field to give the Bison a 2-1 lead, and they added another run on a Bumbarger RBI single and on a double steal with runners on the corners to make it 4-1.
Punxsutawney scratched its way back into the game with a three-run fifth.
DiPietro got the rally started with a single making it 4-2 ending Jakob Sorbera’s day on the mound.
Clearfield turned to Myers hoping to keep the score 4-2 and get out of the inning.
The Chucks had other ideas as Johnston hit a two-run single to make it 4-4 before Myers settled in, inducing a ground ball double play to get Clearfield out of the inning.
“We knew our pitching would keep us in the game,” DiPietro said. “We just had to keep chipping away and taking it one base at a time.”
In extra innings, neither team did much offensively until the 10th.
Punxsutawney had a chance to take the lead in the top of the inning when Derrick Huey singled and advanced to second on Matthews sac bunt. Lucas Burkett then grounded out, but Stouffer hit a sharp line drive to Clearfield’s right fielder Ty Bender who made the catch for the third out of the inning.
Clearfield then won the game when Bumbarger hit a flair to right field between Burkett and Richardson leading off the inning. Allen Myers then walked to put runners on first and second, and they on a Thayne Morgan sacrifice bunt. Reese Wilson was then walked setting the stage for Morgan’s walk-off hit.
Clearfield will face Bradford in the District 9 title at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Shower’s Field in DuBois.
Story by Cory Geer
CLEARFIELD 8, PUNXSUTAWNEY 7, 10 INNINGS
Score by Innings
Punxsutawney 000 133 000 0 – 7
Clearfield 000 401 220 1 – 8
PUNXSUTAWNEY – 7
Brandon Matthews 5100, Lucas Burkett 4200, Isaac Stouffer 4011, Addison Neal 0200, Joey DiPietro 4023, Logan Johnston 5021, Tyler Richardson 4020, Darren Byers 4111, Jacob Weaver 3000, Caleb Smith 2100, Dylan Huey 2010, Trenton Stouffer 0000. Totals 37-7-9-6.
CLEARFIELD – 8
Thayne Morgan 4000, Reese Wilson 4110, Zane Morgan 6251, Tommy Hazel 5110, Eli Glass 4111, Alec Graham 0000, Ty Bender 2101, Will Myers 4112, Seth Bumbarger 5132, Allan Myers 4010, Jake Sorbera 0000, Harrison Peacock 0000. Totals 38-8-13-7.
LOB: Punxsutawney 11. Clearfield 9. Errors: Punxsutawney 0. Clearfield 1. 2B: Myers. SAC: Weaver, Matthews, T. Morgan. SB: Richardson, Glass, Bumbarger, Myers. CS: Wilson. Double Plays Turned: Punxsutawney 1. Clearfield 1.
PITCHING
Punxsutawney
Brandon Matthews: 6IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.
Logan Johnston: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 1 K
Isaac Stouffer: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Totals: 9.1 IP, 13 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 8 BB, 5 K
Clearfield
Jake Sorbera: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Will Myers: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 0 K
Tommy Hazel: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Totals: 10 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 9 BB, 11 K
Winning pitcher – Tommy Hazel
Losing pitcher: Logan Johnston
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