1953 District Tournament

Bellefonte Site of Midget Clash. (1953, July 15). Centre Daily Times, p12.

Bellefonte Site of Midget Clash

The Bellefonte Little League All-Stars will battle the Inter-Community League in an opening round District 3, Area 1 game at Bellefonte Friday, July 24, at 6 p.m. The Inter-Community League takes in the towns of Howard, Blanchard, Orviston and vicinity.

Winner of the District 3, Area 1, playoffs will clash with the District 3, Area 2 winner on the former's field July 31 to determine a representative to the Region 3 tournament at Williamsport, which starts Aug. 12.

Exhibition Game Today. (1953, July 16). Centre Daily Times, p14.

Exhibition Game Today

An exhibition game between the first team of Bellefonte Little League all-stars, who will represent the league in the District 3, Area 1 tournament and the second team , will be played today at 6:30 p.m. on the Little League field.

Bellefonte, Nittany Teams Win. (1953, July 25). Centre Daily Times, p8.

Bellefonte, Nittany Teams Win

The Nittany Valley Little League, of District 3, Area 2, and the Bellefonte Little League, of District 3, Area 1, advanced to the second round of the District Little League playoffs last evening. Nittany defeated Lewistown Nationals, 6-4, on Bruce Bauer's dramatic homer in the fourth inning with two mates aboard and Bellefonte turned back the Inter-Community League, 4-2, with two runs in the eight inning.

Nittany will play Big Valley, a 23-5 victor over the Lewistown Americans last night, at Belleville Monday at 6 p.m. With Lock Haven downing Jersey Shore, 8-2, and Mill Hall trouncing Renovo, 7-3, Bellefonte entered a pairing this morning to determine which of the three teams would draw a bye for Monday's action.

Lewistown had taken a lead over Nittany with a four-run outburst in the second inning at Lewistown. The score read, 4-3, when the State College team came to bat in the last of the fourth. Dick Harpster opened the frame with a single and Larry Smith was hit by a pitched ball. Then Bauer unloaded Gary Wagner's first pitch over the left field fence for a game-winning home run.

Dave Ferguson scattered eight Lewistown hits, walked three and struck out five. Harpster led Nittany's eight hit attack with three singles and a double. Don Noerr had three hits for the losers.

Bellefonte came from behind, scoring twice in the sixth inning to knot the count at 2-2, and then pushed home two runs in the eighth to whip the Inter-Community League visitors. Oscar Brown opened the eighth with a single and Ron Brown was safe on a fielder's choice. Shultz single to score the former and when the ball got away from Catcher Bob Shiffler, Ron Brown came home.

The box score:

Nittany, Bellefonte Midget Nines Win . (1953, July 28). Centre Daily Times, p10.

Nittany, Bellefonte Midget Nines Win

Nab 4-2 District 3 Contests; Penns Valley Eliminated, 4-1

The Nittany Valley and Bellefonte nines both got exceptionally good pitching last evening and stayed in the District 3 Little League playoff picture with respective victories over big Valley and Mill Hall – both on the losers’ fields. However, Penns Valley Little League went down before the Juniata County All-Stars, 4-1.

Nittany turned back Big Valley, 4-2, to earn the right to meet Juniata tomorrow on the Nittany Valley field for the District 3, Area 2 title. Bellefonte clipped Mill Hall, also by a 4-2 margin, and will take on Lock Haven, which drew a second round bye, at Bellefonte today at 6 p.m. This will be for District 3, Area 1 crown. Tomorrow’s Nittany Valley -Juniata game also will start at 6 p.m.

Winners of the two games will clash Friday for the District 3 championship for the Region 3 tournament.

Nittany Valley was held to four hits by Gary Armstrong, but along with four bases on balls and two costly errors, made them good for four runs. Having taken a 2-0 lead in the fourth and seen it whittled to 2-1 in the same frame, the Nittany team scored the deciding tallies in the sixth.

Bruce Bauer walked to open the sixth and Ron Clouser ran for him. Scott Harshbarger singled, but Irvin Tice fanned and Pat Gilligan hit a ground ball that turned into a putout when Clouser was cut down at the plate. Bob Hoffman sent a fly ball to right field that Sheetz dropped and both Harshbarger and Gilligan raced home.

Big Valley made its final run in the last of the sixth. It was held to seven singles by Hoffman, who didn’t walk a batter and fanned three. Harshbarger’s two straight hits were tops for the Nittany nine.

Bellefonte trailing by a 2-1 count after two innings, scored twice in the third inning to go ahead to stay and added another in the fifth for insurance at Mill Hall. Ron Brown and Mike Shultz combined talents to hold Mill Hall to three hits – all singles – and had 11 strikeouts between them. Shultz had eight of those and got credit for the win.

Jim Lutz got things rolling in the third when he walked. Al Hastings slapped a double to send him home with the tying run and he came home himself when Brown bunted, was tossed out and the return throw got away from the catcher..

Hastings two hits paced a six hit assault on loser Bob Andrews.

Penns Valley Little League was eliminated from 1953 consideration when Juniata used five hits, a walk and took advantage of five enemy errors for a 4-1 decision. The game, played at Centre Hall, found Juniata scoring once in the second, twice in third and once again in the fifth before Penns Valley broke the ice with a run in the sixth. This latter run came when Ron Harris reached base through an error by third baseman Manbeck. Skip Whitehill was safe on shortstop Beward’s boot, Harris going to third. An overthrow at third allowed Harris to scamper plateward.

Vinton Kidd and Barry Weaver had two hits apiece off Harling, who allowed only five while walking none and fanning seven. Kidd gave up five hits also, walked on and struck out six. Weaver sparkled in the field, handling several hard chances cleanly.

The box score:

Bellefonte Midgets Rip Lock Haven. (1953, July 29). Centre Daily Times, p10.

Bellefonte Midgets Rip Lock Haven

Bellefonte erupted for five runs in the first inning last evening and, with the help of another three runs in the fourth, breezed to an 8-4 Little League District 3, Area 1 playoff victory over Lock Haven on the Bellefonte field. The win gave Bellefonte the area title and gave it the right to meet tonight’s Nittany Valley-Juniata County All Stars winner Friday for the District 3 championship.

Righthander Al Hastings won his second playoff victory for Bellefonte, this time both on the mound and at bat. Hastings limited Lock Haven to five singles, walked three and struck out eight. In addition, he slapped a single and triple to lead his team’s five hit attack.

The five-run first inning was highlighted by Mike Shultz’ inside the park home run with a teammate on base. Hastings had the visitors shut out until the final inning when Lock Haven plated all four of its runs.

Six-foot one Bob Fry started on the hill for Lock Haven but gave way to Quigle in the fourth. Fry fanned two and walked five.

The box score:

Midget Nines Clash For District 3 Title. (1953, July 31). Centre Daily Times, p14.

Bellefonte Meets Juniata at Old Fort

Midget Nines Clash For District 3 Title

Bellefonte, crowned champion of District 3, Area 1 Tuesday, will tackle its toughest assignment yet when i takes on power laden Juniata County All-Stars, who won the District 3, Area 2 title Wednesday, today at 6 p.m. on the Old Fort field at Centre Hall. The winner will be 1953 champion of Little League District 3 and will then enter the Region 3, or state-wide, tournament at Williamsport.

With splendid pitching and timely hitting combining into their usual victorious result, Bellefonte has plunged past three straight opponents in District 3 competition, but none probably so tough as today’s foe has yet been met. Juniata has allowed its two opponents to score just one run in the two games against it while compiling nine itself.

In the opening round, Bellefonte turned back the Inter-Community League, 4-2, in eight innings as Al Hastings went the distance. Then Ron Brown and Mike Shultz combined to hold Mill Hall to three hits for another 4-2 victory. Finally, Lock Haven was thumped, 8-4, Tuesday in Bellefonte’s most recent outing.

Juniata drew an opening round bye, but stopped Penns Valley Little League, 4-1, in its first try and then blanked Nittany Valley, which had won two straight games, 5-0, on Wednesday.

Either Brown or Shultz is likely to get the mound assignment for Bellefonte today. The lineup should read like this:

Sam Dunlap, catcher; Jack Weber, second base; Al Hastings, shortstop; Ron Brown, pitcher or third base; Russ Brown, center field; Mike Shultz, third base or pitcher; Jim Lutz, left field; Bill Schwartz, first base; Tom Wallace, right field.

The Region 3 tournament opens in Williamsport on Aug. 12 with the National tourney starting Aug. 25.

Scores of games played in District 3 thus far are as follows:

First Round: Nittany Valley 8, Lewistown Nationals 4. Bellefonte 4, Inter-Community League 2. Lock Haven 8, Jersey Shore 2. Mill Hall 7, Renovo 3. Big Valley 23, Lewistown American 5.

Second Round: Nittany Valley 4, Big Valley 2. Juniata 4, Penns Valley 1. Bellefonte 4, Mill Hall 2.

Third Round: Bellefonte 8, Lock Haven 4. Juniata 5, Nittany Valley 0.

Mike Shultz, a husky youngster with a good overhand fast ball, was the victim of this early assault from which Bellefonte, backed by a good and loyal crowd, never recovered.

When Jim Dowling uncorked a home run over the right-center fence to lead off the third, Shultz left the hill for third base and Ron Brown took over. Brown gave up five hits and three runs, including another leadoff homer by Dale Smith in the sixth inning.

Bellefonte, down 7-1, scored three times in the third inning to show it still hadn’t given up hope. But Juniata’s huge southpaw pitcher, Ron Harling, was still just a bit too fast and strong for the losers. He gave eight hits in all, walked three and struck out eight. With Dowling’s three hits and Smith’s two sparking a nine-hit attack, Harling had easy sailing.

Bill Schwartz had a single and triple for Bellefonte, driving in the first run for his team in the second inning with the latter blow. Shultz, who had pitched brilliantly in an earlier relief role, was tagged with the loss.

The box score: