PUNXSUTAWNEY 7, ST. MARYS 1

May 28, 2008 - District 9 Class AAA Baseball Championship Game at Brockway

Some of the information in this story is courtesy of the Punxsutawney Spirit

BROCKWAY – When it comes to District 9 Class AAA baseball, it’s a lot like the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray as a fictional Pittsburgh newsman who ends up experiencing the same Punxsutawney Groundhog Day over and over again.

Thanks to solid pitching from Christian Muth and Austin Fuhrman and timely hitting, defending PIAA Class AAA champion Punxsutawney won its fifth-straight District 9 Class AAA title with a 7-1 win over St. Marys Wednesday at Brockway.

“I told the guys after the game, ‘Don’t every take these for granted. They don’t pass these out for nothing,’” Punxsutawney manager Paul Hetrick told the Punxsutawney Spirit. “They earned it, and they earn it every year. So I told them to be proud of it.

“Sometimes, I just think they kind of assume they’re going to win it. But that was a great accomplishment against a nice team out there today.”

Punxsutawney (13-6) scored all seven of its runs in the first three innings scoring two in the first, one in the second and four in the third.

Tommy Bush led the offense going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Jacob Stumpf added a 1-for-2 performance with a run scored and two RBIs.

That was more than enough for Muth and Furman.

Muth, who struggled a bit with control walking five, allowed no runs in five innings giving up just two hits while striking out three to earn the win. Furman came into the game in the sixth and went the final two innings allowing a two-out run in the seventh while letting up three hits and two walks. 

Tommy Bush’s RBI double in the first inning drove home Zach Smith with the game’s first run for the Chucks, and Bush scored on a double-steal attempt that saw Tyler Wingard out in a rundown making it 2-0.

Then in the second, Braedon Pennington’s fly ball that was dropped by the St. Marys’ right fielder allowed Jacob Stumpf to score making it 3-0 Punxsutawney.

The runs kept coming for the Chucks in the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Furman, a two-RBI double by Stumpf and Dane Kopas’ sacrifice fly to right.

St. Marys’ scored its lone run in the seven when Mitchell Straub drew a bases-loaded, two-out walk off Furman.

NOTES – Muth and Smith are the only returning starters from last year’s state championship team … Punxsutawney was 2-0 against St. Marys this year outscoring the Dutch 19-1 … The Chucks face WPIAL second-place team Trinity in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs at 4 p.m. Monday at Brockway.  

PUNXSUTAWNEY 7, ST. MARYS 1

Score by Innings

St. Mays 000 000 1 – 1

Punxsutawney 214 000 x – 7

ST. MARYS – 1

Quinn cf 2000; Tamburlin lf 2010; Quiggle c 3020; Schlimm ss 3000; Straub dh 3011; Kline 2b 4000; Petrocchi 3b 2010; Ackley rf 3000; Mulcahy 1b 1000; Bilodeau p 0000; Meyer, J. p 0000; Meyer, D. ph 1000; Longhi ph 0100. Totals 23-1-5-1.

PUNXSUTAWNEY – 7

Muth p-ss 3010; Furman ss-p 3110; Smith, Z. 2b 1210; Bush 3b 3222; Wingard dh 2110; Stumpf cf 2112; Kopas rf 1001; Pennington 1b 3000; Bish c 0000; Smiley ph 1000. Totals 22-7-7-5.

2B: P: Bush, Stumpf.

Pitching

St. Marys: Bilodeau 4 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO; Meyer, J. 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.

Punxsutawney: Muth 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 3 SO; Furman 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO.