Bobcats Down Panthers 10-0 In Five Innings To Move On To PIAA Baseball Class-1A State Semifinals (Tickets On Sale Now Online [No Tickets Sold At The Gate]; Link To Order, Bracket Link and PIAA Homepage Link At Bottom Of The Article)
Photo by Stephanie Brinkley- Devon Lauer masterful on the mound against the Panthers
Just a solid game, in every facet.
The Clarion Area Bobcats defeated the Saegertown Panthers 10-0 in five innings, in their Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Baseball Class-A State Quarterfinal matchup, on Thursday,June 9th, at Westminster College in New Wilmington.
Great pitching, stellar defense and bats that just refused to be quiet, along with some pretty good base running are a good recipe for success. And it proved successful for the Bobcats.
Winning pitcher Devon Lauer was masterful on the mound, going the whole five innings for the shutout, allowing just two hits, while striking out two and walking a pair. He was hitting his spots and letting his defense do the rest. It just seemed everyone was in the right spot all game.
The offense was the definition of workmanlike, in scoring a run in the first, two in the third, four in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
Clarion was the home team for this one.
Saegertown got their first hit with one out and nobody on ,in the top of the first. But a beautiful throw down to second by catcher Adrian Weber and the tag, on an attempted steal and a pop fly to Lauer ended the inning.
Dawson Smail singled to right in the bottom of the first. Bryce Brinkley laid down a bunt single down third. Noah Harrison delivered a sacrifice fly to center, moving Smail to third. Later Brinkley stole second. Devon Lauer hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Smail to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the second inning, and Saegertown went down 1-2-3 in their half of the third.
With one out in the bottom of the third, Brinkley walked and with Harrison at the plate, he stole second. There was a pitch in the dirt that got away and Brinkley headed to third, where an errant throw allowed him to score. Harrison singled and with Derek Smail up, he stole second. Derek Smail walked giving the Cats runners at first and second. Lauer walked to load the bases. Then a sacrifice fly by Tanner Miller brought Harrison home. The Bobcats now led 3-0.
Saegertown had runners at first and third with two outs in the top of the fourth, But Lauer picked off the runner at third to end the threat.
Dauntae Girvan singled to center to lead off the bottom of the inning. Hayden Weber singled moving Girvan to third. Wyatt Watterson came in to run for Weber. With Dawson Smail at the plate, Watterson stole second. Smail singled to short, scoring Girvan and moving Watterson to third. A bunt single by Brinkley plated Watterson to up the Bobcats’ lead to 5-0. Smail moved to second on the play. A double steal moved both runners up. After an out was registered, Derek Smail was intentionally walked to load the bases. A single to right scored Dawson Smail and Brinkley. After a fielder’s choice and a flyout the inning ended, with Clarion up 7-0.
Saegertown went down in order in the top of the fifth, with Lauer striking out the first two batters, followed by a groundout to short.
The Bobcats sealed the deal in the bottom of the inning. Girvan had a line drive double to left. Weber reached on an error and Girvan moved to third. Watterson again came in to run for Weber. With Dawson Smail up, Watterson stole second. Smail had an infield single score Girvan and moving Watterson to third.
Brinkley came to the plate. Dawson Smail stole second. Brinkley singled up the middle to score Watterson, putting the Cats up 9-0 and moving Smail to third. Then Harrison singled driving in Smail for the game ending tenth run.
For the game, Dawson Smail was 3-for-4, with three RBIs and three runs scored, and had two stolen bases. Brinkley went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in a pair, and had three stolen bases. Girvan had a double and a single, in three at bats and scored two runs. Harrison went 2-for-4 on a double and a single, scoring once and driving in a run.
Lauer had a single and three RBIs. Weber had a single. Miller drove in a run. Watterson scored twice and stole a base. Derek Smail walked three times.
William Shaffer and Luke Young had Saegertown’s hits.
Clarion Manager Rob Jewett said this about Lauer’s strong performance. “Yeah, Dev’s doing what he needs to do. He throws well on the corners, mixes it up. I thought he did a good job with the running game, holding runners on and stuff. He threw a couple of days ago, but he was able to come out and gut it out. I thought he threw tremendously.”
And the other facets of the Bobcats’ game? “Hitting, Yeah, I mean 1-through-9 produced somehow. We preach ‘Just get the ball in play and see what happens. We’re not afraid to play some small ball. So that helps here and there, when it works correctly.
“Man, I thought they did a tremendously job running bases.
“And defensively, we played a sound game.
“It was nice to see all three phases come together.”
District Nine Champion Clarion now moves on to the PIAA Baseball Class-1A State Semifinals. They will face District Five Champion Southern Fulton on Monday, June 12th at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
Tickets for the game are available on line now. No tickets will be sold at the gate.
The winner of that game will advance to the State Class-1A Championship Game, on Thursday, June 15th, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park at Penn State, in State College with the first pitch set for 10:30 a.m.
The winner faces the winner of the other Semifinal between District Nine Runner-up DuBois Central Catholic and District One Champion Dock Mennonite, who will play the same day at Bloomsburg University, set to begin at 4:00 p.m.
(Great Game, Cats!!!! Beat Southern Fulton!!!! Thanks to Stephanie Brinkley and Nate Girvan for their pics!!)
PIAA Homepage
Brackets
http://www.piaa.org/sports/championship_details.aspx sport=baseball
Tickets
https://www.piaa.org/sports/tickets.aspx