CENTRE COUNTY — It was a rematch of Game 2 in almost every way.
Howard’s Dylan Womer faced Spike Island ace Ryan Whitehead in a game in Philipsburg that the Pirates had to win to stay alive.
In Game 2, Whitehead prevailed with a complete-game victory, 2-1, but this time, in Game 4, the Hawks slugged 11 hits, including a home run by Kahale Burns, and Womer made them count in a clutch, 5-2, win that cemented the 2025 CCBL Title for the Hawks.
Burns gave the Hawks an auspicious start with a leadoff home run in the first inning which, followed by an unearned run, gave Howard an early 2-0 lead.
Spike Island evened things in the bottom of the third inning on a two-run double by Nate Gustkey that scored Jake DeSimone and Zac Tiracorda and tied the game.
The Hawks came right back in the fourth. With two outs, Parker Quick and Kaden Burns singled, with Quick scoring after an overthrow at third base.
Hayden Vaughn followed with a double to right field that scored Burns and gave the Hawks a 4-2 lead.
Another run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Kahale Burns made it 5-2 and from there, Howard left it up to Womer.
Womer, who finished with seven innings pitched with two runs, five hits, four strikeouts and three walks, shut out the Pirates the rest of the way and took the 5-2 win.
He did, however, give up at least one hit in all three final innings and somehow found a way out of each jam.
The bottom of the fifth was the most dangerous. With DeSimone and Gustkey on base after hitting singles and two outs, McGwire Heverly lofted a deep shot to left field that Kaden Burns fielded against the fence. A few more feet, and the game would have been tied, but Burns made the play.
Then in the bottom of the seventh, Ike Tiracorda doubled with two outs, but Womer got out No. 3 and the Championship, on a fly out to right field as the Hawks and their fans celebrated another CCBL Title.
“We figured we had to come back with our best today,” Womer said, “and we needed to be ready for them. We haven’t hit Whitehead in the past, and we came in today scrapping for whatever we could get on offense. We couldn’t have started off any better with Kahale Burns going over the left field fence. That was huge.”
“They tied it up, but we weren’t done. As soon as we came in, we said we are getting those back. We had some clutch hits, some good baserunning and we made it happen. This meant everything to us. We had been playing a lot of great baseball and we thought we could make up for what we should have done last year. And we did.”
“And it’s a young team, and we have a lot of young guys who come out consistently and want to be here. So we have an amazing group.”
Howard finished the season with an impressive 21-2 record with the only losses coming to Spike Island–one early in the season, 7-5, and Game 2 in the Finals, 2-1.
Spike Island, the No. 2 seed coming into the playoffs, finished at 20-5.
