Howard wins nail-biter over Bees for Centre County League title

BLANCHARD, PA – The Centre County Baseball League has been around since 1931 and you’d have to go back a long time to find a more exciting championship game than Howard’s 8-6, extra-inning win over the Blanchard Bees at the Bee Hive on Tuesday evening.

Howard looked to have the game locked up in regulation, leading 6-4 with two outs and one runner on in Blanchard’s last bat in the bottom of the seventh. The Bees’ Asher Corl worked a full count against Hawks’ pitcher Dylon Womer; Corl followed with a 2-run homerun over the centerfield fence and the game was tied at 6-6.

But Howard answered with two runs in the top of the eight and the game ended in the bottom of the inning when a Bee runner was nipped at home plate, trying to score from third on a pitch that got by the catcher to the backstop.

Womer went the distance for Howard, touched up for 12 hits while issuing three walks and hitting two batters. He struck out seven and his defense made the plays when needed and Blanchard was hampered by the inability to get runners home; two runners were also retired on the bases.

Asher Corl was unstoppable at the bat for the Bees; he led off with a homerun in the first, followed by a walk, a double, hit by a pitch, then his clutch homerun for a 3-for-3 game. Clayton Butler put up a double and two singles before departing with a leg injury. Cy Probst had two singles for the Bees; Trevor Hanna with a double, and singles from Toner Corl, Talon Falls and Ethan McGill. Bryon Greene paced the Howard attack with three singles and a triple; he was also hit by a pitch.

It’s the second year in a row the Bees have fallen in the championship game, losing to Pleasant Gap in 2020.