Clinton 12s earn berth in state championships

TOWANDA, PA – Friends and family of the Clinton 12 softball team will be resetting their GPS to head west this week, no longer traveling northeast to Towanda. Manager Shawn Weaver’s team on Saturday earned the Section Three championship with a winner-take-all triumph, 7-4 over Tunkhannock. The victory earned Clinton a spot in the state tournament scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Indiana.

Clinton was outhit 10-4 in Saturday’s clash but took advantage of six Tunkhannock walks and four errors and their own team speed to come out on top. Clinton was 8-for-9 in steals, led by Reagan Weaver with three, Mallory Wunder and Payton Williams with two each and Maesyn Franquet with one.

Hits came from Wunder with a double and a single and Aubrey Miller and Emily Motter each with a single.

Franquet and Camdyn Weaver split the pitching duties, each going three innings, Franquet with six hits given up, one run, two walks and five strikeouts; Weaver with four hits surrendered, allowing three runs (one earned), walking three and striking out four.

Clinton earned the title the hard way, falling to Tunkhannock on Wednesday, 3-2, coming back with a win over Danville Thursday, then knocking off Tunkhannock twice, 12-2 on Friday and 7-4 on Saturday.

There will be eight sectional winners at the state tourney beginning on Wednesday. Clinton has a 5:30 p.m. contest that day against the Section 1 winner (northwestern Pennsylvania).

T 0 0 1 1 2 0 = 4-10-4

C 2 1 1 0 3 x =  7-4-3