Bobcats Down Harmony In PIAA Class-1A Baseball First Round Matchup, Advance To Quarterfinals; Quarterfinal Tickets On Sale Today (Tuesday, June 6th) Through The Game, Links At Bottom Of Article
Photos by Stephanie Brinkley – Above: Dawson being congratulated by teammates after his homerun.
The District Nine Champion Clarion Area Bobcats downed District Six Runner-up Harmony Owls 15-0, in three innings at Showers Field in DuBois, in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) opening round matchup on Monday (June 5th).
With the victory the Bobcats advance to the quarterfinals, to face the District Ten Runner-up Saegertown Panthers, at Westminster College, in New Wilmington, on Thursday (June 8th). First pitch is scheduled for Noon. (Links for tickets, Brackets etc. are at the bottom of the article.)
The Cats scored four runs in the bottom first inning, two in the second and nine in the third, to come away with the victory.
The Bobcats got things going in the first, with Dawson Smail hitting a double. Bryce Brinkley followed with a bunt single moving Smail to third. Brinkley stole second and Noah Harrison singled up the middle, to score both runners.
Harrison found himself on third following a wild pitch and a passed ball to Derek Smail, who ended up drawing a walk. He later stole second, giving Clarion runners on second and third, with nobody out.
With one out, Tanner Miller singled to right, driving in Harrison and Derek Smail, and stole second on the throw to the plate giving the Cats the 4-0 lead. The inning closed with no more scoring.
Hayden Weber drew a base on balls to open the bottom of the second. He was replaced on first by courtesy runner Wyatt Watterson. He didn’t stay there long, as the next batter, Dawson Smail drove the first pitch over the right field fence, moving Clarion’s lead to 6-0. The score held till the bottom of the third.
The Bobcats first batter in the third, Devon Lauer, was hit by a pitch bringing Miller to the plate. Lauer stole second and Miller drew a walk. Matt Alston followed with a bunt single to load the bases.
Dauntae Girvan then hit a single to left driving in Lauer and Miller, for an 8-0 Clarion lead, and giving the Bobcats runners at first and second. Weber had a bunt single to load the bases. Still nobody out. Dawson Smail singled off the wall in left to score Alston.
Brinkley singled up the middle driving in Girvan and Watterson who ran for Weber, for an 11-0 lead, and runners on first and second. Harrison singled, driving in Dawson Smail and setting up runners at the corners. With Derek Smail at bat, Harrison stole second. Derek Smail drove in Brinkley on a sacrifice fly and Clarion now led 13-0.
With one out Harrison stole second and with two outs, stole third, and then scored on a double by Miller. Matt Alston sealed the deal with a single to left, to score Miller.
Lauer went the entire three innings to pick up the win.
(Let’s Keep It Going, Cats!!!! Thanks to Chris Rossetti and YDL/D9and10Sports.com for permission to use info gathered from their broadcast and to Stephanie Brinkley for her pics!!)
PIAA Homepage
Brackets
http://www.piaa.org/sports/championship_details.aspx sport=baseball
Tickets
https://www.piaa.org/sports/tickets.aspx