11-12 Baseball All-Stars Down Butler Township; Next Game Friday Evening At East Butler

(By C.A.L.L. Baseball President Brian Smail)

For the second game in a row for the 11&12 All-Stars, it looked like rain was going to be a factor. Thanks to the hard working volunteers that showed up at the field at 1:00, the field was in excellent condition for Wednesday evening’s game.

The evening began with a beautiful rendition of our national anthem from USAF Sr. Airman Vanessa Bartoe. After the opening ceremonies concluded, a coin flip determined that Butler Township would be the home team.

Cole Slaugenhoup batted first for Clarion and fired up both his teammates and fans as he hit the 2nd pitch of the game over the fence for a lead off home run. Clarion finished the top half of the inning with a 1-0 lead. Cal German took to the mound and threw the first batter out at first. He then struck out the next 2 batters and Clarion led 1-0 after the 1st inning.

The 2nd inning witnessed a surge of runs from Clarion. Brady Fowkes and Logan Lerch both had singles. Ethan Burford hit an RBI double. Thanks to walks and excellent base running, Clarion scored 4 runs in their half of the inning. German once again went to the mound and struck them out in order. Clarion went into the 3rd with a 5-0 lead.

Clarion had a quiet top of the 3rd as the batters went down in order. Cal German once again was on fire as he struck out 3 of the 4 batters that he faced. Clarion went into the 4th still leading 5-0.

There was an offensive explosion in the top of the 4th as Conner Kromer led off with a double, followed by a walk to Brecken Rex and a double steal advancing both runners. Cole Slaugenhoup had an RBI single, followed by a 3 run home run by Cal German. Hayden Callen then hit a double, followed by an RBI double from Noah Ditullio, who then stole 3rd. Christian Simko hit a single that scored DiTullio from third. Clarion scored 6 runs in the top half of the 4th to lead Butler Township 11-0.

Cal German began the bottom of the 4th by striking out the first 2 batters. Cal had reached 50 pitches, and it was time for a relief pitcher to conserve the pitch count. German had struck out 10 of the 11 outs from Butler Township, including a streak of 7 in a row. Brady Fowkes then came in and closed the door on Butler Township, finishing the 11-0 shutout victory for Clarion. Butler had only one hit the entire game, and only 2 other base runners. It was a very impressive showing as the Clarion 11& 12 All-Stars are 2-0.

East Butler beat Franklin 12-2 to also have a 2-0 record. The location was determined by Administrator Bob Wilson and a flip of the coin. East Butler won the coin toss and so the next game will be in East Butler, Friday, July 3rd at 7:00.