When you have a softball team as young as Clearfield coach Bob Dixon you're going to have some growing pains, and the inexperience showed in the second inning for the Lady Bisons.

Clearfield committed all three of its errors in the frame, which led to four unearned runs against freshman pitcher Andrea Butler, as the Lady Chucks opened up an early lead and tacked on some insurance runs late to pick up an 11-5 victory.

Despite trailing by seven after two innings, the young Clearfield squad made things interesting after freshman B.J. Bowman cracked a three-run home run to make it 9-5 in the fifth. Take away the four-run second for Punxsy, and Bowman's home run could have tied the game.

"We saw a lot of good things tonight," said Dixon. "Early (on) we didn't see much. We came out of the gates slow - we weren't hitting well and weren't fielding well."

Taylor Powell hit a two-run homer of her own in a three-run first for Punxsy, which essentially put the game out of reach with its second-inning output.

The Lady Chucks had runners on second and third after a fielder's choice and the first Clearfield error. A dropped throw from the second baseman allowed two runs to score and the third error two batters later plated two more to make it 7-0 before Butler stopped the bleeding with one of her eight strikeouts in the game.

"We practiced last night in the freezing cold," Dixon said. "We worked defense first and they just struggled last night. After the game I told them, ‘you play like you practice,' and we struggled last night and were a little shoddy tonight ... but they keep working hard.

"They're a good group of kids and they work hard. They give it everything they've got and they don't quit."

The Lady Bisons cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the third after Butler set the Lady Chucks down in order in the top half.

Chantel Read got the inning started with a leadoff single and later stole second to move into scoring position.

Punxsy pitcher Kelsey Cook retired the next two hitters she faced, but Bowman came up with the first of her three hits to plate Read and put Clearfield on the board.

Bowman didn't stop at first, however, as she took second on the throw home and moved to third when the throw was off its mark.

Megan Butler followed with an RBI single to pull the Lady Bisons to within five.

Punxsy pushed two across in the top of the fourth before Janell Zalno and Melinda Owens got the Clearfield rally started in the fifth.

Zalno and Owens connected on back-to-back infield singles in front of Bowman, who smacked a 1-ball offering from Cook well over the fence in right-center field to make it 9-5.

Bowman added a one-out double in the seventh to lead the 11-hit attack, while Zalno finished with a pair of hits to her credit.

"It's a young team, but they never gave up," said Dixon. "They fought hard through the whole ballgame. We had some real nice hits ... B.J. cranked one for us tonight and she looked really good (at the plate)."

Punxsy added a run in the sixth and seventh to set the final against Andrea Butler, who scattered nine hits and walked five batters.

Clearfield (0-3) is back in action on Wednesday at St. Marys.

"Overall, I was pleased with the effort we got," Dixon said. "If we keep improving, I think, by the end of the year, we'll be a pretty good ball team."

Punxsutawney-11

Burke 1b-3b 4211, Muth pr 0100, Laska ss 4220, Miller cf 1000, Dubensky rf 1000, Ruehle c 3112, Neal ph-c 1011, Powell dp 4112, Lellock rf-1b 3100, Spack 2b 3020, Crago pr 0000, Kauffman lf-cf 4100, Depp 3b 2210, Pifer ph-lf 2001, Cook p (flex) 0000. Totals: 32-11-9-7.

Clearfield-5

Zalno lf 4120, Owens ss 4110, B.J. Bowman cf 4234, M. Butler 3b 4011, S. Colesar 1b 3000, Harbold ph 1000, K. Bowman rf 3010, A. Butler p 3010, Morgan 2b 3010, Read c 3110. Totals: 32-5-11-5.

Score by Innings

Punxsutawney               340            201            1-11             9   1

Clearfield                     002            030            0-  5            11   3

Errors-Kauffman; S. Colesar 2, Owens. LOB-Punxsy 5, Clearfield 6. DP-Clearfield. 2B-Burke, Laska; B.J. Bowman. HR-Powell (1 on, 1st inning); B.J. Bowman (2 on, 5th inning). SB-Neal 4, Depp 2, Miller, Kauffman; Read. WP-A. Butler 7. PB-Read.

Pitching

Punxsy: Cook-7 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO.

Clearfield: A. Butler-7 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 8 SO.

WP-Cook. LP-A. Butler (0-2).