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MANSFIELD -- For the third year in a row, the Joel Stephens Invitational championship game came down to the bottom of the final inning and ended with a walk-off. This year, it was the Brockville Bunnies of Ontario, Canada that scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Bradford County (Pa.), 8-7, to win the 13th annual edition of the Joel Stephens Invitational.
Brockville scored six runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-1 lead and added another run in the fourth inning to push the lead to 7-1, a margin that stood until the seventh inning. It looked like smooth sailing for the Bunnies, but five walks and one hit batter in the seventh inning allowed Bradford to score six runs to tie the game at 7-7.
In the bottom of the seventh, Pat Froom hit a pinch-hit single to lead off the inning for Brockville, then advanced to second on a passed ball. Austin Marcellus sacrificed him over to third and after Jordan Havekas walked, Brent Daviault ripped a line drive into left center field to plate the winning run.
Brockville finished the tournament with an undefeated 5-0 record, while Bradford County finished the tournament at 4-1.
Monday's final marked the third consecutive championship game that ended with a one-run, walk-off win for the home team.
Brockville's catcher, Zane Fish, was awarded the tournament's MVP after catching all five complete games. Joining him from Brockville as major award winners were the entire pitching staff being named the Jeff Hunter Outstanding Pitchers. No pitcher that threw for Brockville in the tournament allowed more than three earned runs. Brockville's Spencer Green was named the Randy Naylor Outstanding Outfielder.
Bradford County's Logan Hitchcock was named the Jeff Jones Outstanding Hitter of the tournament. He was joined by Taylor Skerpon, who was named the Cliff Dobbs Outstanding Infielder.
Brockville's Jordan Havekas and Jay Flannigan were named to the All-Tournament team, as were Bradford County's Zach Place and Mason Roof.
Northern Tioga coach Brad Confer was named the Stan and Doc Heaps Sportsmanship Award winner for his outstanding efforts in running the Stephens Field during the tournament.
A complete game recap and statistics from the championship game can be viewed below, along with the major award winners and the All-Tournament team.
The first team to punch a ticket to the championship game was Bradford County, which handed defending champion MR Dirt a 12-2 loss in the Stephens semifinals at Shaute Field.
Brockville rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead over Horseheads late in the other Stephens semifinal, but Horseheads battled back to tie it at 3-3 and send the game to extra innings. It took three extra sessions before Brockville plated the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Monday opened with a pair of semifinal games for the Palmer championship. Cherry Hill defeated Hershey, 15-1, to advance to the Palmer title game. They met South Western York, which defeated Elmira Heights 5-2.
South Western York went on to win the Palmer title, defeating Cherry Hill 5-2 in the championship game at Stephens Field.
Each of the teams that played Monday have at least one representative named to the All-Tournament team, while the two teams that play for the Stephens title each have two players on the All-Tournament team.
Below you can find the All-Tournament team as the players are named, as well as recaps, scores and stats from all of Monday's games.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Zach Levandusky, Elmira Heights
- Colin Porter, South Western York
- Dakota Roof, MR Dirt
- Griffin Sponaugle, Hershey
- Jeff Davis, Cherry Hill
- Mike Abrunzo, Horseheads
- Jordan Havekas, Brockville
- Jay Flannigan, Brockville
- Zach Place, Bradford County
- Mason Roof, Bradford County
Joel Stephens MVP: Zane Fish, Brockville
Randy Naylor Outstanding Outfielder: Spencer Green, Brockville
Jeff Jones Outstanding Pitcher: Brockville pitching staff
Jeff Jones Outstanding Hitter: Logan Hitchcock, Bradford Co.
Cliff Dobbs Outstanding Infielder: Taylor Skerpon, Bradford Co.
Stan and Doc Heaps Sportsmanship Award: Brad Confer, No. Tioga
STEPHENS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RECAP
Bradford County - 7
Brockville - 8
Box Score
MANSFIELD – For the third consecutive season, the Joel Stephens Invitational Tournament championship was decided with a walk-off hit as Brent Daviault delivered an RBI-hit to left field to give Brockville an 8-7 win over Bradford County Monday at Shaute Field.
The win was Brockville's first Stephens Invitational Tournament victory, Brockville previously lost to Syracuse in the 2005 championship game. Prior to the championship game,
Leading 7-1 through six innings, it seemed as if Brockville would cruise to an easy victory, but Bradford County scored six runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 7-7.
Brockville starting pitcher Logan Grant held the Bradford County offense, who had scored no less than nine runs in each of its games this weekend, to just one run for six innings while the Bunnies' offense produced a six-run inning that helped propel them to the win.
Daviault finished the game 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI. Jordan Havekes not only hit a double and had two RBI, but also earned the victory after taking the mound to record the final two outs of the seventh inning.
Pierce Ranck led Bradford County on the day, going 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI. Taylor Skerpon took the loss for the Bobcats after giving up four runs over 3.2 innings of relief work. Trey Patton started the game for Bradford County and threw 2.2 innings, allowing four runs.
The Bobcats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Rank ripped a double to right-center to score Zach Place, the courtesy runner for catcher Kaleb Route who reached the base earlier in the inning with a single. Patton worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the second inning.
However, the third inning proved to be the undoing of Patton and Bradford County. Brockville tied the contest at 1-1 when Casselman scored on a wild pitch. Bradford County recorded the innings second out, but Brockville's offense was hardly done as the Bunnies scored five runs with two outs with the highlight being a bases-clearing hit that from Havekes that scored David Forbes and Austin Marcellus. At the end of three innings Brockville led 6-1.
Brockville scored what would turn out to be a very important run in the bottom of the fourth when John Coleman scored from second base off of a throwing error at first base to extend the Bunnies' lead to 7-1.
Down to its final three outs, Bradford County took advantage of six walks and a RBI-single from Place to make it a 7-4 game with the bases loaded and just one out. A fielding error allowed two more runs to cut Bradford County's deficit to just 7-6. Mason Roof then drove an RBI single to tie the game at 7-7 before Havekes, who was on in relief of both Grant and Casselman, was able to get out of the inning.
Pat Froom led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After a sacrifice bunt from Marcellus and a walk by Havekes, Daviault stepped up and shot a hit to left field to score Froom and win Brockville its first championship.
Bradford County 010 000 6 7-5-1
Brockville 006 100 1 8-10-2
Bradford County: Trey Patton, Taylor Skerpon (3, L) and Kaleb Route
2B: Pierce Ranck 3B: Pierce Rank
RBI: Cory Lee, Logan Hitchcock, Zach Place, Kaleb Route, Pierce Rank, Mason Roof
Brockville: Logan Grant, Dylan Casselman (7), Justin Havekes (7, W) and Zane Fish
2B: Justin Havekes 3B: Spencer Green
RBI: Havekes (2), Brent Daviault (2), Austin Marcellus, Spencer Green
12 p.m. STEPHENS SEMIFINAL AT KELLY
Horseheads - 3
Brockville - 4
MANSFIELD – The Brockville Bunnies defeated Horseheads 4-3 in a 10-inning thriller at Kelly Field to advance to the Stephens championship.
John Coleman was 2-for-4 with two walks and one RBI for Brockville. Jordan Havekes came on in relief in the sixth inning and gave up just one run in five innings pitched to earn the victory. Jay Flannigan, who was Brockville's starting pitcher, was 1-for-3 with an RBI double. Flannigan struck out seven batters in five innings.
Horseheads was led by Mike Abrunzo, who hit two doubles. Todd Meehan was 2-for-3 with one walk and an RBI. David Yorio started the game for Horseheads and lasted five innings, striking out five batters and giving up three runs in the no decision effort. Pat Matkosky, who allowed just one unearned run, threw four solid innings in relief.
Horseheads struck first in the second inning when Dylan Manwarning scored off of a Meehan single. They would extend their lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning thanks to a Matt Hicks RBI. However, Brockville plated three runs in the sixth inning to take a 3-2 lead. The inning was highlighted by Flannigan's RBI double. Horseheads forced extra innings by scoring a run the seventh.
Havekes and Matkosky held both team's bats in-check in the extra innings until the bottom of the 10th. The Bunnies' Spencer Green led off the inning with a single and would later advance to second when Coleman walked. Zane Fish then hit a bloop single to left field to advance the runners to second and third base before an overthrown ball allowed Green to score from third and give Brockville the 4-3 victory.
Horseheads 010 100 100 0 3-9-1
Brockville 000 003 000 1 4-8-1
Horseheads: David Yorio, Derek Gilbert (6), Pat Makowski (7, L) and Jacob Meehan
2B: Mike Abrunzo (2), Jacob Meehan, Todd Meehan, Calvin Woolhiser
RBI: Todd Meehan, Matt Hicks, Calvin Woolhiser
Brockville: Jay Flannigan, Jordan Havekes (6, W) and Zane Fish
2B: Austin Marcellus, Jay Flannigan
RBI: John Coleman, Jay Flannigan
12 p.m. STEPHENS SEMIFINAL AT SHAUTE
Bradford County - 12
MR Dirt - 2
MANSFIELD – Mason Roof threw five innings allowing two runs picking up the win and at the plate went 3-3 with 2 RBIs, 2 runs and finished a home run short of the cycle as Bradford County knocked off defending champion MR Dirt 12-2 in six innings. The Bobcats advance to the Stephens final to face the Brockville Bunnies Monday afternoon at Shaute Field, a 4-3 winner in 10 innings over Horseheads.
Bradford County wasted little time getting on the scoreboard, touching MR Dirt starter Holden Lunger for two runs on three hits in the top of the first. Hunger was pitching on short rest after throwing five plus innings of one hit ball Saturday morning in a win over Big Flats.
The Bobcats pounded out 13 hits of the afternoon. Taylor Skerpon went 3-4 at the dish with two RBIs and two runs and Logan Hitchcock chipped in with three more hits with a double and an RBI. Roof went 3-3 hitting out of the number eight spot in the order.
Scott Rockwell threw a scoreless sixth inning in relief to close the door on MR Dirt, who were looking to be the first repeat champion in the 13 years of the Joel Stephens Invitational Tournament.
Bradford County 207 102 12-13-0
MR Dirt 101 000 2-4-1
Bradford County (4-0): Mason Roof (W), Scott Rockwell (6) and Logan Hitchcock
2B: Zack Place, Scott Rockwell, Mason Roof
3B: Mason Roof
RBI: Corey Lee (2), Taylor Skerpon (2), Mason Roof (2), Brandon Dinelli (2), Logan Hithcock, Zack Place, Pierce Ranck
M R Dirt (3-1): Holden Lunger (L), Cameron Martin (3), Nate Bennett (3)
RBI: Evan Perry
12 p.m. PALMER CHAMPIONSHIP AT STEPHENS FIELD
South Western York - 5
Cherry Hill - 2
MANSFIELD – South Western York used a five-run fifth inning to claim the Palmer Championship in a 5-2 decision over Cherry Hill at Stevens Field.
Tyler Sterner earned the win pitching five shutout innings before being relieved in the sixth. Evan Pickett picked up the save for South Western York. Parker Bean led the offense driving in two runs whileTyler Harris and Ian Stambaugh had an RBI each.
Connor Collins earned the loss, pitching five innings for Cherry Hill. Ben Machtinger and Jon McGugan each drove in a run apiece for Cherry Hill and Alex Injaian had a double.
SW York 000 050 0 5-3-0
Cherry Hill 000 002 0 2-4-1
SW York (4-1): Tyler Sterner (W) and Evan Pickett
RBI: Tyler Harris, Parker Bean (2), Evan Hacker
Cherry Hill (3-2): Connor Collins (L)
2B:Alex Injaian
RBI: Ben Machtinger, Jon McGugan
9 a.m. Palmer Semifinal at Shaute Field
Elmira Heights - 2
South Western York - 5
MANSFIELD -- Christopher Mills threw a complete game five hitter, Parker Bean went 3-3 with two runs and an RBI as South Western York advances to the Palmer Championship with a 5-2 victory over Elmira Heights.
South Western York gave Mills all the run support he would need with a three run first inning. Bean singled to home the first run of the game and later scored on Joshua Fry two RBI single to center field.
Mills cruised early on in the contest before being touched up for two runs in the top of the fourth but settled down to shut the door the rest of the way and picked up his first win of the tournament. He scattered five hits in seven innings, punching out four while surrendering just two runs.
Zach Levenduski worked all six innings for Elmira Heights in a losing effort. He allowed eight hits and struck out seven.
South Western York will take on Cherry Hill, a 15-1 winner over Hershey at Joel Stephens Memorial Field for the Palmer division championsip.
Elmira Heights 000 200 0 2-5-2
SW York 300 110 x 5-8-0
Elmira Heights (2-2): Zach Levenduski (W) and Kevin Snyder
2B: Zach Levenduski, Vinney Minichello
RBI: Vinney Minichello, Bubba Barber
South Western York (3-1): Christopher Mills (W) and Tyler Harris
RBI: Joshua Fry (2), Keith Pappas, Parker Bean
9 a.m. Palmer Semifinal at Kelly Field
Cherry Hill - 15
Hershey - 1
MANSFIELD – Cherry Hill advanced to the Palmer championship game with a 15-1 win over Hershey in five innings Monday morning at Kelly field. Cherry Hill will now face South Western York 12 p.m. at Stephens field.
Cherry Hill scored two runs in the first inning and one in the second before exploding for nine runs in the third inning. Their hot bats carried over to the fourth inning when they scored three more runs to push the lead to 15-1.
Brandon Perna gave up just one run and two hits while striking out two batters over five innings to record the victory on the mound for Cherry Hill. John McGugan led the offense with a 2-for-3, two-RBI day. Ben Machtinger also drove in a pair of runs for a multi-RBI day. Six Cherry Hill players scored two runs each
Already leading 3-0, Cherry Hill produced an electric third inning. Last year's Stephens tournament runners-up batted around in the frame and scored nine runs to take a commanding 12-0 lead. Cherry Hill began the inning with three consecutive doubles. John McGugan and Ben Machtinger led the offensive outburst with two RBI each in the inning
Hunter Larson had a pinch-hit RBI in the third inning and Zach Drayer hit a double to lead Hershey. John Luderitz suffered the loss on the mound for Hershey after allowing 12 runs in three innings pitched.
Cherry Hill 219 30 15-13-1
Hershey 001 00 1-2-2
Hershey (1-3): John Luderitz (L), Eric Gehman and Zach Warren
2B: Zach Drayer
RBI: Hunter Larson
Cherry Hill (3-1): Brandon Perna (W) and Evan Hacker
2B: Jon McGugan (2), Evan Hacker, Anthony Lizzi
RBI: Evan Hacker, Anthony Lizzi, John McGugan (2), Ben Machtinger (2), Tyler Hoffman, Brad Machinski
