HOWARD SECOND basemen Hunter Emenhizer fields a grounder behind a Blanchard runner during the Hawks’ 9-6 championship final victory over the Bees.
BLANCHARD — The Howard Hawks have been waiting since 1979 for a Centre County Baseball League championship, so having to go an extra inning against Banchard in the final game of the 2021 championship series didn’t seem to bother them.
After tying the series at 2-2 with a tense 2-1 victory over the Bees on Sunday at Howard, the Hawks scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning and then held on against the Bees for a 9-6 win and the championship. Howard scored six early runs and hoped they would stand up, but Blanchard rallied and tied the game in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Down 6-1, the Bees scored three runs in the fifth to make it 6-4, and then with two outs and a runner on in the seventh, leadoff hitter Asher Corl lofted his second home run of the day over the left field fence, tying the game at 6-6. Corl’s hit instantly changed the momentum of the game and sent a wave of enthusiasm through the Bees, who just a moment before were facing a two-run loss. But the Hawks’ Jaden Jones, Bryan Greene and Bryce Greene all had RBIs in the top of the eighth, and reliever Ty Womer closed out the Bees in the bottom as Howard claimed its first title in 42 years.
“That was huge,” Howard coach Jim Gardner said about Corl’s home run. “That definitely gave them a big lift, but it also seemed to refocus us. It seemed like we might have been taking it for granted there, but in the top of the eighth, we stepped up, gutted it out, and came up with three big runs.”
For a long while earlier in the game, Howard seemed to be in control. The Hawks scored three runs in the first inning on RBI hits by Bryce Greene and Justin Taylor and a sacrifice fly by starting pitcher Dylan Womer. Taylor had another RBI hit in the second inning, and then the Hawks made it 6-1 in the third after RBI singles by Jones and Bryan Green.
That single run for Blanchard was after Corl led off the game for the Bees with a solo home run. In the Bees’ fifth, four hits, including a two-run single by Ethan McGill, led to three runs as Blachard tightened things up at 6-4. The Bees, however, could do nothing in the sixth, and were down to their final out in the seventh when Corl connected.
There was a discussion among the Hawks about walking Corl, but with a two run lead and just one runner on base, it was decided to pitch to him.
Corl ran the count to full, and then jumped on a fast ball and sent it over the fence in left field, tying the game at 6-6. The Hawks were not deterred, though, and Jones and the Greenes gave Ty Womer all the runs he would need to finish the win.
“That was huge, getting those runs,” Ty Womer said. “Just having those guys at the top of the lineup who make things happen and they always give us chances. “Then it was just throw strikes, one out at a time, and just get the outs. That’s all we were trying to do.”
The win went to Ty Womer in relief of starter Dylan Womer, while Bryan Greene had four hits — including an RBI triple in the eighth — and two RBIs. Taylor and Bryce Greene each had two hits and two RBIs, and Jones had one hit and two RBIs.
For Blanchard, Corl had two home runs, a double, and three RBIs, and McGill had a single and two RBIs.
Howard became the fourth different team to win a CCBL championship in the last four years. Clarence won it in 2018, followed by Blanchard in 2019, Lemont in 2020, and now Howard in 2021.
“It’s been a long time coming for us,” Gardner said.
“The last time the Hawks won a championship was in 1979, and I started playing in 1981, and it’s been that long. But 40 years later, here we are.”
