CENTRE COUNTY — The top four teams in the CCBL after the regular season survived into the semifinals of the league’s 2026 playoffs and both five-game series began on Tuesday evening.
In Blanchard, the No. 1 Bees entertained the No. 4 Mifflin FoxPro, and in Philipsburg, the No. 2 Spike Island Pirates matched up with the No. 3 Howard Hawks.
The first games were both wild affairs, and here is a look at what happened:
Spike Island 10, Howard 7
Spike Island shortstop Lukas Colton came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 1 of the Pirates’ semifinal series against Howard with two outs, two on, and the score tied at 7-7.
The game had been tied in the top of the inning after a two-run Hawk rally, and pitcher Tyler Serb needed just one more out to send the game into extra innings.
Colton fouled off Serb’s first pitch, and then the second one.
With the count now 0-2, Colton leveled off and hit a line-drive home run to center field, scoring Ike Tiracorda and Mike Kitko and ending Game 1 in a 10-7 Spike Island win.
Kitko reached earlier in the inning on a base hit, moved to second on a sac bunt, and then Tiracorda was intentionally walked to set up a one-out double-play.
But Colton’s shot ruined the Hawks’ plans and sent the series on to Howard with the Pirates leading 1-0.
Spike Island went into the seventh inning holding a 7-5 lead, but hits by Gavin Burns, Serb, Brayden Dubbs and Kahale Burns knocked in two runs and tied the game at 7-7.
Before that, Spike Island led the entire time.
The Pirates scored five runs in the first inning to take a 5-1 lead. Tiracorda homered for the Pirates’ first run, McGwire Heverly hit an RBI single that was followed by a two-run double by Jeremy Whitehead. Parker White drove in the fifth run on a single that scored Whitehead.
Spike Island made it 6-1 in the second on an RBI double by Nate Gutskey, but Howard struck for four runs in the top of the third that made it a one-run game, 6-5.
The Hawks scored on RBI hits by Bryan Green, Bryce Greene and Dan Cole.
The Pirates scored a run in the bottom of the fifth inning on Tiracorda’s second home run of the game that gave his team a 7-5 lead and set up the dramatic seventh inning.
Serb and Ryan Whitehead both pitched complete games, with Whitehead taking the win after giving up 7 runs on 10 hits with 8 strikeouts.
Serb allowed 10 runs on 11 hits with 6 strikeouts.
Colton’s three RBIs led Spike Island while Tiracorda, Gustkey, and White each had two hits.
Burns had three hits for Howard, and Bryce Greene and Cole each had two RBIs.
Game 2 is now scheduled for Thursday evening at 6 p.m. in Howard.
Blanchard 15, Mifflin 12
The eight runs that Blanchard and Mifflin scored in the first inning of Game 1 of their CCBL semifinal series on Tuesday were just a hint of things yet to come.
Both teams weren’t nearly done, and after the dust settled Blanchard had escaped with a 15-12 slugfest win.
That first inning ended in a 4-4 tie, and then the Bees went ahead 8-5 with four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Mifflin, however, didn’t seem to be bothered and put up seven runs in the top of the fifth inning and went ahead 12-8 with just three innings left to play.
Howard’s Crusen Stover answered that almost immediately with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning that made the score 12-10. Peyton Johnson made it 12-11 with an RBI single, and then, with two outs, Cayde McCloskey put the Bees ahead for good, 13-11, with a two-run double.
In the sixth, the Bees’ Connor Foltz and Tayten Yoder each added an insurance run and Blanchard held on for the Game 1 victory.
Blanchard relief pitcher Kaleb Irion took the win with two no-hit innings to end the game, with no walks and two strikeouts.
Blanchard collected a total of 13 hits, with Foltz and Asher Corl each getting three, with Corl and McCloskey adding five RBIs.
Corl, McCloskey and Stover each hit a home run.
Mifflin’s Ethan Eichorn, Evan Pupo and Reese Christine combined to drive in 10 runs, and Eichorn and Carson Cherry both had two hits.
Game 2 will now take place at Mifflin on Thursday at 6 p.m.
