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CLARION, Pa. – When Clarion and DuBois Central Catholic met for the PIAA Class 1A baseball final, not only did it mark a first in D9 history, but it signaled D9 as the top dawg in terms baseball in the state.
On a sunny day in the middle of June, it was Clarion that won the historic state final, 4-1 over the defending state champion Cardinals.
“I’m so proud of the boys,” said Clarion coach Rob Jewett said afterward. “This was all them. I remember the first practice of the season saying this was the first step to a state championship. I don’t know how much they believed it, but we believed it. I’m glad it worked out.”
The two teams met twice before the state championship, once in the regular season (a 5-2 DCC win) and again for the District 9 title (a 6-3 Clarion win).
In both meeting prior, there was a seventh-inning rally.
In the regular season contest, Clarion led 2-1 going to the seventh, but DCC tied the game on a two-out, two-strike single by Carter Hickman and then took the lead on a two-strike, opposite-field, two-run double by Brayden Fox on its way to a 5-2 win.
In the D9 title game, a five-run top of the seventh inning lifted the Bobcats to their first-ever District 9 crown with a 6-3 win over the two-time defending D9 champion Cardinals.
While there was no such drama in the state title game, it was nevertheless well-played.
The Bobcats (21-4) went with Devon Lauer for four innings on the mound and turned to Derek Smail for the final three, the same exact scenario that played out in their 3-0 semifinal win over Southern Fulton.
Brayden Fox’s RBI single in the fifth inning got DCC (20-6) within one at 2-1, and it also marked the only run Clarion gave up in its 4-game jaunt to the state title and broke a run of 22 ⅔ consecutive scoreless innings.
Clarion plated single runs in both the first and second inning, with Derek Smail’s RBI groundout driving in Dawson Smail, who led off the bottom of the first with a single.
In the second, Daunte Girvan’s sacrifice fly brought in Tanner Miller, who led off the inning with a single.
That was all Lauer and Derek Smail needed.
In Clarion’s four PIAA wins, Lauer went a total of 16 shutout innings, striking out 13, allowing 11 hits, and walking nine.
Clarion got to the DCC starting pitcher, Fox, for a pair of runs in the fifth on RBI singles from Hayden Weber and Dawson Smail.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Dawson Smail said. “We’ve had first-round exits the last two years and now we come here this year and win the whole thing. It’s unreal.”
Fox went five innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits, walking two, and striking out one. Carter Himes came in and pitched a scoreless sixth with a pair of strikeouts.
And while only one team could win, the day as a whole was a win for District 9.
“District 9 is a hotbed for success,” DCC coach Adam Fox said. “Everybody pushes everybody. I think Rob (Jewett) touched on it in his interview and I’ll say it again – these coaches care, these kids care. Mike Dickey (Punxsutawney coach) will say the same thing. It’s not about what class you’re in, it’s how you go about your business. He set a precedent this year with such a great team. Hats off to everyone (in District 9). Coaches will say iron sharpens iron and that’s exactly what District 9 is.”
