Crickets Cruise to Legion Regional Crown, 16-5

CLEARFIELD — The Beech Creek Crickets rebounded Wednesday from a rare loss and pounded their way to a 16-5 win over Claysburg, winning the regional crown for the third year in a row and a trip to the state American Legion tournament at Ephrata later this month.

The Crickets were back and forth until the fifth inning when they sent 16 players to the plate, scoring 10 runs on the way to the 7-inning win.

The fifth inning was one for the ages: Asher Corl doubled, Landon Breon singled and Trevor Hanna and Zach Eck followed with walks, Eck’s free pass driving in a run; Evan Prough then started a string of four straight doubles, his for two RBIs, Brandon Miller for two RBIs, Toner Corl for an RBI and Talon Falls’ double good for another RBI. The inning continued with a walk to Asher Corl, a walk to Wyatt Koch, an RBI walk to Breon, an RBI walk to Eck and an RBI walk to Prough.

The Crickets then coasted home, winning pitcher Toner Corl and reliever A-J Smith combining for a 7-inning 13-hitter.

Beech Creek pounded out 15 hits, led by Toner Corl’s four and two each from Koch, Breon, Eck and Prough. The Crickets had bounced with the Wednesday win after losing to East Hempfield by a 2-1 score on Tuesday.