Two-out Lightning Helps Clarion 9-10 Years Old All-Stars to Within a Game of the State Tournament

Chris Rossetti

Chris Rossetti

Published July 18, 2018 4:20 am
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MEADVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Scoring 13 runs after two outs, the Clarion 9-and-10 years old All-Star team rolled to a wild 20-12 win over Harborcreek in the winner’s bracket final of the Section 1 Tournament Tuesday night in Meadville.

(Clarion’s team comes back to the dugout after finishing off the 20-12 win Tuesday)

“This game had a little bit of everything,” Clarion manager Luke Huwar said. “It was a long game. I thought our bats worked well. I thought we made some uncharacteristic errors. We had some guys who made some big plays, and we have some things we need to clean up going forward.”

The win puts Clarion in prime position to advance to the state tournament next week in Indiana, Pa. The boys in blue will have two chances to win one game to win the Sectional tournament with the first coming at 6 p.m. Thursday against the winner of the loser’s bracket final between Harborcreek and DuBois (6 p.m. Wednesday). Even if Clarion loses the game Thursday, it would have a chance to advance to the state tournament against the same team at 6 p.m. Friday. All games are in Meadville.

“That (getting to through the first two games unbeaten) was our goal all the way along,” Huwar said. “You really put yourself in the best position in the tournament. DuBois and Harborcreek are two very talented teams. But they are going to have to pitch kids again tomorrow (Wednesday). We have a day off. We get all but one or two of our pitchers back and then they have to come back and beat us twice. It’s hugely important. We are ready to play.”

Early on Tuesday, it looked like Clarion was going to walk past the team from Erie County jumping out to a 6-0 lead after one-and-a-half innings and leading 7-2 after two-and-half innings.

But Harborcreek scored seven runs in the bottom of the third to take a 9-7 lead, and things looked a bit tense for the Clarion squad.

The tension didn’t last long, though, as Clarion answered the Harborcreek seven-run inning with a six-run top of the fourth with five of the runs scoring after two outs.

“I came into the dugout (after the third inning) and told the guys to keep their chins up,” Huwar said. “Everybody gets knocked down. Champions get back up. They responded like champions.”

Nathan Frederick got the rally started with a leadoff triple and scored on a one-out safety squeeze bunt by Alex Love to get Clarion within a run, 9-8.

Hunter Lechner then reached on an error, and that opened the door for Clarion with the boys in blue walking right through it.

After a wild pitch moved Lechner to second and a walk to Wyatt Watterson, Paul Craig singled down the right-field line to tie the game.

Wyatt Watterson scored three runs in the victory for Clarion

Wyatt Watterson scored three runs in the victory for Clarion

Craig then stole second, and Liam Huwar gave Clarion the lead back, this time for good, with a single to right scoring both Watterson and Craig to make it 11-9 Clarion.

The boys from the river weren’t quite down as Dylan Smail singled Huwar to third and Parker Miller scored both runners with a double to left to make it 13-9.

Smail, who entered the game with a runner on and one out in the third, then pitched a scoreless fourth despite giving up a leadoff double to keep Clarion’s lead intact.

“We haven’t pitched Dylan in the district or sectional tournament up to this point,” Luke Huwar said. “He is so valuable to us in the field. We knew we had him out there in reserve. When he came in and threw strikes for us, that is all we were looking for. I think he really settled the team down.”

Smail’s ability to hold the fort in the fourth proved key when Clarion took advantage of three Harborcreek errors to score seven more runs in the fifth, all after two outs, to go ahead 20-9.

With two outs and a runner on first, Craig hit a comebacker to the mound. But the throw to first was high allowing Craig to take second and Watterson to go to third. Watterson then scored when the catcher couldn’t come up with a throw home.

Then, after Craig went to third on a wild pitch, Huwar brought him home with an infield single before stealing second and moving to third on a wild pitch.

Smail helped the cause with a single to right to make it 16-9, and two batters later Frederick came through with a two-run double to left to make it 18-9. Ethan Rex followed with an RBI double and later scored on another error.

“Clutch hitting is a great term for it,” Luke Huwar said of his team’s ability to score after two outs. “That was up and down the lineup, people hitting deep in the count and hitting well.”

Clarion could have put the game away in the bottom of the fifth by getting three outs without allowing more than a run to score because of the 10-run Mercy Rule.

But Harborcreek was able to score a pair of runs to keep the game going down by just nine, and the boys from the lake then added a run in the sixth before Rex came in and ended the game on a strikeout.

Clarion had 19 hits in the game led by Huwar, who was 5-for-6 with a double, four runs scored and three RBIs. Smail, who was the winning pitcher, was 4-for-6 with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs, while Frederick was 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI. Rex added a pair of hits and four RBIs, and Craig had two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored. Watterson also scored three times.

Joe Weismiller had three hits, two runs scored and two RBIs for Harborcreek with Gavin Burchanowski had three RBIs and Dallas Olesky a pair of hits.

CLARION 20, HARBORCREEK 12

Score by Innings

Clarion 331 670 — 20
Harborcreek 027 021 — 12

CLARION — 20

Liam Huwar p/rf 6453, Dylan Smail ss/p 6342, Parker Miller 1b/c 3212, Nathan Frederick cf/2b 3331, Ethan Rex 2b/ss/p 4124, Hayden Hindman 3b 3000, Gabe Anderson ph 1000, Alex Lover ph 0001, Hunter Lechner lf/pr 3100, Reese Runyan ph 1010, Drew Martz ph 1010, Wyatt Watterson c/p 4300, Paul Craig rf/1b/cf/p 5322. Totals: 40-20-19-15.

HARBORCREEK — 12

Joe Weismiller cf 4232, Gavin Burchanowski 3b/p/pr 3213, Jason Dolak ph 1010, Arthur Lin ss 5011, Cohen Kent lf 5121, Ben Mozdy 2b/p 3200, Dallas Oleksy p/2b/1b 4021, Luke Ruprecht rf/p 3212, Nathan Vogt c 0200, Camden Moski ph 1000, Lucas Hanson 1b 2000, Brody Fischer 2b/rf 0100, Sebastian Postler ph 0000. Totals 31-12-11-10.

2B: Huwar, Smail, Miller, Frederick, Oleksy, Ruprecht. 3B: Frederick. SB: Huwar, Smail, Frederick, Hindman, Watterson, Craig. Weismiller, Vogt, Postler. SAC: Love. SF: Burchanowski. HBP: Rex by Mozay, Postler by Smail.

PITCHING

Clarion

Liam Huwar 2 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
Wyatt Watterson 0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
Dylan Smail 2 ⅓ IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HP
Paul Craig 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
Ethan Rex ⅓ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
Totals: 6 IP, 11 H, 12 R, 8 ER, 7 BB, 3 K, 1 HP
Watterson pitched to 5 batters in the third

Harborcreek

Dallas Oleksy 1 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 0 HP
Ben Mozdy 3 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HP
Luke Ruprecht ⅓ IP, 3 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
Gavin Burchanowski, 1 ⅓ IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER*, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HP
TOTALS: 6 IP, 19 H, 20 R, 7 ER*, 5 BB, 6 K, 1 HP
*One of the runs charged to Burchanowski, was an earned run for the pitcher but a team unearned run

Winning pitcher: Dylan Smail
Losing pitcher: Ben Mozdy

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