Baseball

Base on balls in bottom of seventh leads Claysburg-Kimmel past BG

CLAYSBURG -- The longer the Claysburg-Kimmel/Bishop Guilfoyle playoff game remained scoreless, the more obvious it became that one or two runs is all it would take to move on to the next round.

Both teams had opportunities throughout but failed to score until the seventh. The Marauders finally broke through when Brody Gartmann scored on an error for a 1-0 lead, setting the stage for the bottom of the seventh.

Mason Campagna, who already had three hits on the day, nearly tied it leading off the seventh, but his long fly ball banged off the left field fence for a double. Three batters later with Claysburg down to its last out, Paydden Knisely ripped the first pitch he saw into left field for a single that scored Campagna, drawing the Bulldogs even.

Two batters after that, Quinton Bush walked with the bases loaded to score Aidan Simpson for a 2-1 walk-off win in the first round of the District 6 Class 1A playoffs Friday afternoon at the Claysburg-Kimmel High School sports complex.

"We had a few chances to score earlier but couldn't get anybody around," Simpson said. "Big hits late in the game is what really fuels us. We did what we needed at the end to get the win. I knew we had in us."

Simpson pitched 6 2/3 strong innings, giving up just the one unearned run in the seventh and striking out four. Two of those strikeouts came on back-to-back hitters in the sixth after BG had loaded the bases with no outs.

"Aiden's my stud. He's been my stud all year. He wanted this game, and I think he showed that on the mound," C-K coach Ross Helsel said.

Brayden Haney came on in relief to get the final out and the win after Simpson had reached the PIAA pitch limit.

"Give credit to Claysburg," BG coach Tommy Williams said. "Max Campagna was outstanding. He was 4-for-4 on the day, and he hit an absolute rocket to probably the deepest part of this place to get 'em started in the seventh. I still liked our chances. We got to two outs. Just couldn't get the third."

In addition to Campagna's four hits, Knisely added three knocks, giving the duo seven of the team's nine hits. Ryan Hagg, Jesse Georgiana and Joey Hofer had two hits each for BG.

"There were baserunning errors by both teams. We missed bunt signs then couldn't get a bunt down. They couldn't get a bunt down. We left runners on base. They left runners on base," BG coach Tommy Williams said. "It's playoff baseball. They're going to be 1-0, 2-1 games. You have to do the little things to be successful."

Claysburg plays at top-seeded Bishop McCort Monday in the quarterfinals. BG's season ends at 5-16.

"We entered a new conference that was just brutal. We just try to make enough points to make the playoffs. Once you get here, anyone can win it," Williams said.

It was the first playoff game for the Bulldogs at their new artificial turf sports complex.

"It was wonderful. We've been wanting to do this for a couple of years now. Hopefully, we'll get to do it some more," Helsel said.

BISHOP GUILFOYLE (1): Williams ss 400, Hagg lf 202, Wyandt c 300, Dixon 3b 301, Sell p-2b 300, Gates 300, Georgiana dh 302, White pr 000, Foor 2b 000, Marasco rf 000, Hofer 1b 302, Gartmann pr 010, Cacciotti rf-p 200. Totals 26 1 7.

CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (2): Z. Campagna ss 300, M. Campagna c 414, Simpson p-1b 111, Douglas 1b-3b 400, Haney 3b-p 401, Knisley lf 303, Slowik 2b 300, Bush dh 300, Furry rf 000, Ebersole cf 200. Totals 27 9 2.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Bishop Guilfoyle 000 000 1 - 1 7 1

Claysburg-Kimmel 000 000 2 - 2 9 1

E-Hofer, Z. Campagna. 2B-Hagg, M. Campagna 2. RBI-Knisely, Bush.

PITCHING

Bishop Guilfoyle

Sell 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO.

Cacciotti (L) 2.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO.

Claysburg-Kimmel

Simpson 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO.

Haney (W) 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (5-16), Claysburg-Kimmel (8-11).