MEADVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — The Clarion Major League (12-and-under) Little League All-Star team is one win away from the Pennsylvania State Tournament after a 10-0, four-inning win over Meadville/Vernon Sunday in Meadville.
(Nick Aaron had a sac fly in the 10-0 Clarion win Sunday. Photo by Diane Lutz)
Bryce Brinkley, Tanner Miller and Devon Lauer each drove in a pair of runs in the victory for Clarion, which will have two shots at advancing to the state tournament, the first coming at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday against the winner of the consolation bracket final between MYAA (Millcreek) and Meadville/Vernon, which will be played at 8:30 p.m. Monday. MYAA beat Punxsutawney, 11-5, to advance in the loser’s bracket. A Clarion win Tuesday, an the boys in blue are off to the state tournament. A loss would mean a winner-take-all game against the same opponent at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. All those games are in Meadville.
Brinkley had Clarion’s lone extra-base hit, a two-run double in a four-run second inning that gave Clarion a 3-0 lead at the time.
Bryce Brinkley digs for second on his second-inning, two-run double that gave Clarion a 3-0 lead. Photo by Diane Lutz
The boys in blue, who were the visiting team, then tacked on three runs in the third and three more in the fourth to put the 10-run Mercy Rule into play.
The 10 runs were more than enough for Tommy Smith and Logan Lutz, who combined on a four-hit shutout.
Smith went the first two innings allowing two hits and a walk while striking out two, and Lutz finished off going two innings allowing two hits and a walk while striking out one.
Meadville/Vernon’s best hope of scoring came in the first when it loaded the bases with two outs off of Smith before Smith got a strikeout to end the threat.
Lutz, for the second straight day, also opened the scoring for Clarion with a bases-loaded single to center in the second.
Lauer started the rally with an infield single, and Brayden Murray followed with a single to left. Jase Ferguson then loaded the base with a single to center.
Logan Lutz’s RBI single in the second inning got Clarion off an rolling. Photo by Diane Lutz
After Lutz’s base hit got Clarion on the board, Brinkley delivered a one-out double to right scoring Murray and Ferguson to make it 3-0. Lutz then scored on a Smith sac fly to left, Smith’s second sac fly in as many games.
Clarion broke the game open in the third when it started the inning with four straight singles before playing small ball to score the final run of the frame.
Singles by Derek Smail and Lauer and a wild pitch put runners on second and third for Miller, who singled on a line drive to center to make it 6-0 and took second on the throw home. A single by Ferguson then moved Miller to third, and Ferguson stole second before a groundout by Kohen Kemmer scored Miller to make it 7-0.
Tanner Miller had a pair of RBIs and a run scored in the win. Photo by Diane Lutz
Clarion wasn’t done scoring three more times in the fourth without the benefit of a hit thanks to three walks, a hit batter, a Meadville/Vernon error and a sac fly.
Smith, Dawson Smail and Derek Smail started the inning with three straight walks to load the bases. Lauer then hit a ground ball that went for a two-run error, and Murray was hit by a pitch to reload the bases for Nick Aaron who drove in the 10th run with a sac fly to left.
Lutz then got three flyouts sandwiched between a one-out single in the bottom of the fourth to put a quick end to the game.
