The Centre County Baseball League announced that its 2022 playoffs will begin on July 5.
As the league stands now, the two top seeded teams — Blanchard and Lewistown — will get byes in the first round.
The remaining four teams have not yet determined the final seedings, but as it stands now, Howard would take on Lemont, and Spring Mills would meet Spring Creek in the first round, beginning on Tuesday.
That is subject to change depending on the results of the remaining regular-season games.
In recent action, Lewistown suffered its third loss of the season, but the Foxpro also won two games. Blanchard picked up a win and a loss and Howard won a makeup contest against Lemont.
Here’s a brief look at the action:
LEWISTOWN SUFFERS THIRD L
The Lewistown Foxpro improved their overall record to 11-3 with wins over Blanchard and Spring Mills over the past week, although the week was marred by a close, 3-1 loss at Lemont.
Playing on the Community Fields on June 21, the Ducks scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings and then held off Lewistown for their second win of the season.
Alex Lose had two hits and scored all three Lemont runs in the win, and he was helped with hits by Mike Lizzi, Logan Hall and Lenin Hernandez.
For Lewistown, AJ Sheffel, Isaiah Kearns, Ty Hunter and Nick Pupo led the attack, but the Foxpro were unable to push across a run after their only one in the sixth. The loss was their third of the season.
Lewistown, however, quickly recovered from the loss with a win over Spring Mills on June 23, and then one over firstplace Blanchard on June 26.
Against the Braves, Lewistown took a 5-1 lead after the third inning, added another in the sixth, and then held on for a 6-1 victory at home.
The Foxpro knocked out 11 hits, with Sheffel leading the way with three and Hunter and Hunter Walker with two each. Kearns hit a home run in the game and Nick Pupo chipped in with a double.
On the mound, Kearns pitched a complete game two-hitter and took the win.
Then on June 26, Lewistown kept it going with a 10-2 victory over Blanchard at Mifflin County High School.
The Foxpro broke open a close, 3-1 game with five runs in the fifth inning and then two more in the sixth to take control.
Lewistown had eight hits in all, led by Evan Pupo, Kearns and Nick Pupo, who all had two, while Ty Hunter and Eric Shilling picked up the other two.
Connor Cherry pitched for Lewistown, and he held the Bees to just two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and five walks.
With the win, Lewistown improved to 11-3 for the season and moved into a virtual tie for the top spot with Blanchard, which stands at 9-2.
BLANCHARD AT 9-2
Before traveling to Lewistown on June 26 for the big showdown with the Foxpro, Blanchard warmed up with a 14-4 win over the Spring Creek Shockers at home on June 23.
The Bees opened the game with four runs in the bottom of the first inning and then completely took over with 10 runs in the bottom of the third.
Although Spring Creek was able to score two runs in the third and fifth innings, it was not enough to keep the game alive and Blanchard closed it out under the 10-run rule after five innings.
The Bees collected 11 hits, with Toner Corl, Talon Falls, Wyatt Koch and Nate Helms leading the way with two hits each.
Jon Pelky had two hits for Spring Creek.
The win, along with their subsequent loss to Lewistown on the 26th, put the Bees’ season record at 9-2 and tied with the Foxpro for the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs.
The regular season is scheduled to end on Thursday, June 30.
HOWARD WINS THREE IN A ROW
The Howard Hawks won their third straight game with an 11-1 win over Lemont on Monday, June 27, at Howard.
The Hawks started slowly, taking a 3-0 lead heading into the fourth inning, but they began to heat up after that.
They added two in the fourth, three more in the fifth and then completed the scoring with three in the sixth.
Bryce Greene, Dylan Womer, Dan Cole and Cage Gardner all had two hits in the game, with Doug Womer adding a tworun double in the fifth.
Pitcher Dylan Womer allowed six hits and just one run in a complete-game win.
Howard improved its record to 7-5 with one game still to play in the regular season.
REMAINING SCHEDULE
n June 28: Blanchard at Howard, Lemont at Spring Mills
n June 30: Lewistown at Spring Mills, Lemont at Spring Creek
