The District 5 11- and 12-year-old Little League All-Star Tournament began June 24, with four local teams —State College, Bald Eagle Area, Philipsburg-Osceola and Penns Valley — in on the action.
On June 25, P-O picked up its second win in as many days with a 22-3, four-inning demolishing of Curwensville. Philipsburg crushed 18 hits in the game, including two grand slams, and took care of things early with 10 runs in the first inning. After that, there was little doubt that P-O would be advancing to meet Bald Eagle Area in a winner’s bracket game at Philipsburg.
On June 24, however, things were different for PLL. The team was matched with Clearfield, another perennial favorite and a finalist last season, and had to go to the final pitch to pull out an exciting, come-from-behind 4-3 victory.
Down by a run going into the last inning, Colby Hahn and Parker White led off with singles, but two fly-outs put Philipsburg on the brink of heading to the loser’s bracket.
Under pressure, left fielder Jake Kosut came through and singled home Hahn to tie the game. T.J. Wildman followed with another dramatic hit that subsequently drove in White with the go-ahead run.
Now with its first lead of the day, P-O sent White to the mound to try to pick up the save and put away the win. White struck out the first hitter he faced, but then walked three of the next four he faced.
That brought up Clearfield’s Carson Kline with the bases loaded, two outs and the winning run on second base. The count (as it almost had to) went to 3-and-2 before White got Kline to swing and miss at a high fastball, much to the delight of the home Philipsburg fans.
In other District 5 games, BEA bested Four Leaf, 9-8, Big Valley beat Bellefonte, 14-8, State College edged Penns Valley, 4-3, and Moshannon Valley beat Curwensville, 11-1.
