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Decision delayed

Junior final pushed to Saturday

Sentinel photo by JEFF FISHBEIN Juniata County catcher Tyler Sherman holds up his glove to show the ball after tagging Mifflinburg’s Sean Witmer (23) for an out at home in the second inning of their District 13 Little League Junior game at New Berlin Thursday.

NEW BERLIN — It took two late-inning rallies to close the gap but it wasn’t enough to seal the deal as Juniata County and Mifflinburg were stopped in a 6-6 tie after eight innings of play during the Little League Junior District 13 baseball championship game Thursday.

The suspended game will be completed at 1 p.m. Saturday at the same site. As with Thursday’s play, if Juniata County wins the game, the tournament is over. A Mifflinburg victory would force an “if-necessary” game, originally scheduled for Saturday. That game would be played approximately one hour after the championship game is concluded, District 13 Administrator Greg Brouse said.

Brouse said most of the pitchers in the game would be eligible on Saturday for both contests, although that may be only one, Evan Clouser, from Juniata County. He finished the eighth before the game was suspended. Pitchers who threw 35 or fewer pitches on Thursday are eligible Saturday.

“Ot was exciting,” Juniata County manager Casey Harper said. “(Our) first pitcher struggled a little bit there (Logan Kehler), then Tyler (Sherman) came in and did a wonderful job throwing those off speed stuff. He kept those kids guessing but had a couple errors running the bases that’s the only bad thing about it.”

The Juniata County rally started in the fifth inning with Mifflinburg up 6-2. Kehler and Ben Fry drew back-to-back walks to start; Fry got caught in a run down while Kehler hustled to third.

Owen Dressler reached on an error allowing Kehler to score. Later, with two outs and the bases loaded, Josh Bomberger was hit by a pitch that brought home Dressler then Clouser drew a walk that scored Jake Brackbill cutting the lead to 6-5.

“That was huge because some of the guys that were coming up to bat were too antsy so we had them take a pitch or they were going to swing out of their shoes,” Harper said.

Juniata County looked to tie the game in the top of the sixth with two outs and Fry on second base. Eli Milliken singled to center field and it looked as though Fry was going in to score, but Mifflinburg’s Luke Rokavec sent at rocket straight to the catcher and threw Fry out at the plate for the final out.

In the top of the seventh with two outs, Bomberger singled to left. Clouser added a base hit to send Bomberger to third and Clouser hustled his way to second.

Sherman reached on an error, scoring Bomberger and tying the game.

“If you put the ball in play good things will happen,” Harper said. “Oh, they were riled up. Too bad we couldn’t get one more run.”

Both Juniata County and Mifflinburg had opportunities to late but could not capitalize on then. Mifflinburg had the biggest chance in the bottom of the eighth inning as Jarrett Miller drew a one-out walk and stole second before tagging over to third after a fly out from Rokavec. Sherman, who pitched over the count, was pulled for Clouser, who was able to hold off the late Mifflinburg rally by striking out Derek Hackenberg before the game was called due to darkness.

Juniata County struck first in the game scoring two runs in the top half of the second when Bomberger singled home Dressler. Clouser was able to reach on a fielder’s choice scoring Brackbill giving Juniata County a 2-0 lead.

Kehler got into some trouble in the bottom half of the second trying to pick off Mifflinburg’s Eli Troutman at second base but the ball got away allowing Troy Dressler to score. Troutman later scored on a passed ball to tie the game. With the bases loaded Hackenberg was hit by a pitch that brought home Brady Struble. That was all for Kehler as Sherman then came on to pitch. Sherman’s first batter, Ethan Shoemaker, was hit by a pitch that scored Miller.

Mifflinburg added a pair of runs in the fourth to make it 6-2.

Bomberger and Clouser led the way for Juniata County at the plate with both going 2-for-4 with an RBI each.

Pitching and lack of depth could play into a factor for Juniata County, which had only 10 players dressed Thursday, heading into Saturday.

“The biggest thing is pitching,” Harper said. “We’ll be missing a boy or two because they are leaving for vacation but that’s the way it goes.”

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