MEADVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Clarion is headed to Berwick and the Pennsylvania Major League (12-and-under) Little League Championship round after a 1-0 win over MYAA (Millcreek) in the Section 1 Championship Game Wednesday night in Meadville.
Jase Ferguson’s one-out single to center in the second inning scored Devon Lauer from second base, and the three-headed pitching monster of Dawson Smail, Ferguson and Tommy Smith made that run stand up in a game that was a must-win for MYAA but not for Clarion, which would have gotten a second crack at the title Thursday if it had lost in the double-elimination tournament.
“It has been a work in progress for a long time,” Clarion manager Bill Smith said of his team advancing to the state tournament in the Major League Division after doing so in both the Minor League Division (10-and-under) in 2016 and the 11-and-under Division in 2017. “That is why we did 11s last year. It’s working towards this as the ultimate goal of these kids’ career, and they managed to do it. They’ve gotten better and better and better every year.”
For a team that has won a lot this year by outslugging its opponent, Clarion found a way Wednesday to win an old-time baseball game that featured just six hits — all singles — by the two teams combined — four from Clarion.
That was made possible by great pitching and great defense from the boys in blue with the game’s best defensive play coming at a crucial time in the top of the sixth inning with Clarion clinging to the 1-0 lead.
Tommy Smith, Clarion’s hard-throwing righty, had been summoned from his first-base position to lockdown the victory.
But Smith, after getting ahead of Carter Swanson 0-2, lost Swanson walking him on six pitches.
Nick Jackson then hit a foul ball behind the plate, and catcher Jake Smith twisted and turned before catching the foul pop up. Swanson then tried to take advantage of what he must have hoped was a disoriented Jake Smith by taking off for second. But the Clarion catcher spun and threw a strike to shortstop Lauer covering the bag, and Lauer tagged out Swanson for a crucial double play.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Bill Smith said. “I saw the ball go up, and (Jake) had the same kind of thing the inning before and didn’t catch it. I was just happy he caught the popup. To come up and fire the guy out at second base too, that is an incredible play for a 12-year old kid. To be heads up enough to not only be spiraling out of control and catch the fly ball but to still make the second out, that is a great play.”
The play became all that more important when Tommy Smith walked Tommy Owens, but he then settled down and struck out Chase Cline to end the game.
Tommy Smith’s work in the sixth completed an outstanding job on the mound from the three Clarion pitchers.
Smail started and went the first four innings allowing just two hits and four baserunners while striking out five, including the side in the third inning.
“That is the first time he has been on the mound for a while,” Bill Smith said. “We were hoping to get the three innings out of him. We got more than that. I thought he threw great. He kept the ball in the strike zone.”
While Smail hadn’t pitched in a while, Bill Smith said it was an easy decision to start him in such an important game.
“Dawson is a great pitcher,” Bill Smith said. “It’s just been a bit unfortunate (that he hasn’t pitched). We have played a lot of short games where it is in the works to get him on the mound, and it just hasn’t worked out. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to be ready to throw this game, and he was going to have that kind of game. That’s easy. Everyone would love to have a kid like Dawson to be sitting on right there.”
After Smail’s four brilliant innings, Clarion turned the ball over to Ferguson in the fifth, and Ferguson, despite hitting the leadoff man, Bryce Peterson, held the lead.
“We knew we would have to come up with one guy in the middle, probably,” Bill Smith said. “Last year, Jase stepped in to the role against this same team and shut them down the same way.”
Ferguson’s biggest pitches came against the MYAA leadoff hitter, Josh Samluk, with Peterson at third and two outs. Ferguson struck out Samluk on four pitches to preserve the lead.
“He is not real big on the mound,” Bill Smith said. “He is short and compact. He must hide the ball. He snaps the ball in. He has great velocity coming out of that little frame. He has just had that effect and gets big strikeouts when we need it.”
With the lead still at one, Bill Smith turned to his son, Tommy, and despite the bout of wildness, Clarion had exactly the boy on the mound it wanted.
“We have a kid like Tommy that can throw that hard coming in at the end, it’s just a pretty good setup for pitching,” Bill Smith said.
While Smail, Ferguson and Tommy Smith were silencing the MYAA bats, Anthony Iacobucci was doing the same to the potent Clarion bats, which came into the game averaging 13.3 runs per game through six tournament contests and had scored 14 in a 14-8 win over MYAA Saturday.
Iacobucci scattered the four hits over five innings while striking out eight and walking three.
But it was his first walk of the game that proved costly.
Lauer drew a leadoff walk in the second and went to second on a wild pitch before scoring on the one-out single to center by Ferguson.
“Jase comes up big all the time for us,” Bill Smith said. “We moved him down the lineup a little bit from earlier in the season, and he has kind of settled into that spot. There are always guys on base when you get to that spot in the lineup. He is a great guy to have there to hit runs in.”
Ferguson went to second on the throw home but was stranded there when Logan Lutz flew out to left and Nick Aaron grounded back to the mound.
Clarion had a golden opportunity to add to its lead in the third when Dawson Smail singled with one out and Tommy Smith walked. Tanner Miller followed with a single to right, and Bill Smith waved Smail around third. But Smail was nailed at the plate on a perfect throw from right fielder Connor Cross, and Lauer was called out on strikes ending the threat.
After that, Clarion managed just two base runners, both in the fifth, against Iacobucci, who they had roughed up for seven runs on nine hits in just two innings Saturday.
But that one run held up thanks to the pitching and an error-free game from the usually solid Clarion defense.
“I get prouder of this team by the way we play defensively,” Bill Smith said. “We are a shutdown defensive team. It’s hard to get a ball to drop in the outfield, and to get a ball to go through the infield is almost impossible. It’s fun to watch them when they are all working together.”
Clarion will begin state tournament play Sunday, July 22, when it plays the Section 8 champion at Noon. Win or lose, Clarion will play again Monday, July 23, in the double-elimination tournament. A win would put Clarion’s game at 5 p.m. with a loss meaning Clarion plays at 12:30 p.m. The tournament runs through July 29 with the winner advancing to the East Region in Bristol, Conn, Aug. 5-11. The East Region is just one step from Williamsport and the Little League World Series.
“I think we are really equipped pitching wise and hitting wise and stuff like that to make a legitimate run (in the state tournament),” Bill Smith said. ”It should be exciting.”
CLARION 1, MYAA 0
Score by Innings
MYAA 000 000 — 0
Clarion 010 00x — 1
MYAA — 0
Josh Samluck 3b/ss 3000, Carter Swanson ss/2b 2000, Nick Jackson cf 3010, Tommy Owens c/lf 2000, Chase Cline 1b 2010, Anthony Iacobucci p 2000, Connor Cross rf 1000, Bryce Peterson rf 0000, Gary Hills 2b/pr 1000, Kody Kerr 3b 1000, Andrew DiSanza lf 1000, Gino Heenan c 1000. Totals: 19-0-2-0.
CLARION — 1
Bryce Brinkley cf/pr 2000, Dauntae Girvin ph 1000, Dawson Smail p/2b/1b 3010, Tommy Smith 1b/p 2010, Tanner Miller rf 1010, Brayden Murray ph 2000, Devon Lauer ss 1100, Derek Smail 3b 2000, Jase Ferguson 2b/p 1011, Logan Lutz lf 1000, Kohen Kemmer ph/lf 1000, Jake Smith c 0000, Nick Aaron ph 1000. Totals 18-1-4-1.
LOB: MYAA 5. Clarion 6. Errors: MYAA 1. Clarion 0. DP: Clarion 1 (Jake Smith to Lauer on pop foul). HP: Peterson by Ferguson.
PITCHING
MYAA
Anthony Iacobucci 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 0 HP
Clarion
Dawson Smail 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 HP
Jase Ferguson 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HP
Tommy Smith 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 HP
Totals: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 1 HP
Winning pitcher: Dawson Smail
Losing pitcher: Anthony Iacobucci
Save: Tommy Smith
