DUBOIS, Pa. (D9Sports) – Daren Byers and Isaac Knarr helped top-seeded Punxsutawney return to the District 9 title game for the first time since 2016 with an 11-3 win fourth-seeded Bradford in the Class 4A semifinals at Showers Field in DuBois.
(Photo: Allan Myers had a key three-run double for Clearfield in the Bison’s win over St. Marys Friday. Photo by Jared Bakaysa of JB Graphics. See more of Bakaysa’s work here)
Byers broke open a close game, 5-3, with a two-run single in the fifth, and Knarr calmed things down for the Chucks on the mound tossing three scoreless innings after the game had gone back-and-forth in the early going.
Punxsutawney then put the game out of reach with four runs, thanks in part to a pair of Bradford errors, in the sixth innings. The Owls committed five errors on the day.
Not only did Bradford have trouble fielding the ball, the Owls also couldn’t come up with a clutch hit leaving the bases loaded twice and failing to take full advantage of seven walks and four hit batters by the Punxsutawney pitching staff.
Bradford did hold a 2-1 lead early only to see a wild pitch, a bases-loaded walk and a sac fly put Punxsutawney up 4-2 in the third. The teams then traded runs in the fourth before Byers had his key two-run single.
Peyton Manion had a strong day at the plate for Bradford with two hits and two RBIs, while Michael Gow also had a pair of hits.
Knarr got the win with Tyler Gigliotti, who only lasted 1 ⅔ innings, taking the loss.
CLEARFIELD 5, ST. MARYS 1
DUBOIS, Pa. – Third-seeded Clearfield stunned second-seeded and defending champion St. Marys, 5-1, in the District 9 Class 4A semifinals.
In a rematch of last year’s title game, the Bison took advantage of wildness from St. Marys’ Nathan Beimel, who didn’t start the game, to score four runs in the fifth inning and ended up with five runs on just three hits.
Beimel, who came in to start the fourth inning, had trouble locating the strike zone in the fifth. He walked the first three batters of the inning to load the bases, and then Clearfield took the lead when Hayden Williams reached on an error that left the bases loaded.
Allan Myers then delivered the knockout punch with a three-run, bases-clearing double to center before Beimel struck out the side.
Myers had two of the Bison’s three hits going 2-for-4 with the three RBIs. Williams added a pair of RBIs.
Beimel was 2-for-4 for St. Marys but had the Dutch’s only two hits off Clearfield pitchers Eli Glass and Cade Walker.
Walker got the win in relief not allowing a hit while walking one and striking out six in three innings of work. Glass pitched the first four innings allowing one earned run on two hits and six walks while striking out six.
Beimel took the loss in relief of Matt Bellina. He pitched four innings allowing four runs, two earned, on two hits and four walks while striking out nine. Bellina went three innings giving up an earned run on one hit, two walks and a hit batter while striking out two.
Clearfield will take on Punxsutawney in the title game at a time to be announced Wednesday, May 29, at Showers Field.
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