July 26, 2012 7:00 a.m. EMPORIUM — The Crawford County Senior League All-Stars worked their way out of a big jam in the first inning, and potentially worked their way into the state semifinals after defeating Section 2 champion Reynolds 4-0 in the opening round of the Pennsylvania championship tournament on Wednesday.

“We came out a little slow,” said Crawford County’s Cole Baker. “But then we started hitting. We got our four runs. We couldn’t get as many runners around as we would have liked. But, still, the pitchers came through, and the defense did a nice job.”

The locals get the day off today. They were scheduled to face the Section 3 champion at 7 p.m., but the Section 3 champs didn’t make it to the tournament.

So, with yesterday’s win, the Crawford team already has a good shot of making it out of pool play and into Saturday’s semifinals. But there is still some business that needs dealt with. To ensure its spot in the semifinals, Crawford will have to beat Section 4 champion Worthington on Friday in a game slated for a 6:30 p.m. start.

“We’ve got a bye,” said Scott Walters, Crawford County’s head coach. “Section 3 was a no-show. That’s great for our pitching. Everybody will be eligible except Matt Thompson needs two days rest. So, we’ve got plenty of pitching.”

As for yesterday’s game, the first inning set the tone.

Crawford took the lead with a run in the top half. Joel Mowris led the inning off with a walk and later scored on a double by Tyler Walters.

Yet, Reynolds looked to get that run back and then some in the bottom of the frame. Crawford’s starting pitcher, Matt Thompson, hit the first batter he faced, and then walked the next two to load the bases with no outs.

“That was a little bit of a scare,” said Mowris. “But we have a good defense out there. And I knew we’d get out of it.”

Sure enough, clean-up batter Kellen Gursky hit a ground ball to Baker at third base, and Baker threw home to Walters to get the first out. Then the No. 5 batter, Garrett Ammann, lined the first pitch he saw into the glove of Mowris at second.

“The sun was in my eyes, but the ball was right at me,” said Mowris.

Mowris then turned and doubled up the runner at second, putting an abrupt end to Reynolds’ promising start.

“The first inning hurt us a little bit,” said Reynolds head coach Matt Williams. “We had bases loaded and nobody out and we didn’t score any runs. That pretty much steered the game the way it was going.”

Thompson later settled in on the mound and finished up a nice outing. Through four scoreless innings he allowed just one base hit, only had those two walks, and struck out two.

Luke Basko added two and two-thirds innings of shutout ball in relief. And Baker got the last batter in the seventh to fly out.

“The pitchers did a great job,” said coach Walters. “We’ve got a good defense on the field, and I tell my pitchers, ‘Pound the strike zone. Pound the strike zone. Make them earn their way on.’ And we made some great defensive plays in the field to keep them down.”

Meanwhile, one big swing by Tyler Walters gave Crawford plenty of insurance coverage. In the third inning, Mowris, Mitchell Wood and Kyle Wise led things off with three straight singles. Yet, Wood ran himself off the field after over-shooting second base on Wise’s hit.

But then up came Walters. He had a 3-1 count in his pocket when he clouted one over the fence in left field, pushing Crawford’s lead to 4-0.

Crawford finished the game with nine base hits. Wood was 3-for-4 with a double. Walters was 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and drove in all four of CC’s runs. And Baker was 2-for-3 with a double and was hit by a pitch.

The only iffy part of the day for Crawford County was the fact that the team stranded 11 base runners.

“I thought we’d score a few more runs,” coach Walters said. “But they kept us off balance. And, you know what, as long as our pitchers keep pitching the way they are, we’ll be in good shape.”

For Reynolds, Jacob Leiphiemer, Gursky and Ammann had singles.

Gursky and Ammann hit back-to-back knocks in the seventh inning, but Gursky tried to get to third on Ammann’s hit, but was nabbed at third after a terrific strike from right field by Drew Durasa.

“(Crawford County) played well,” said Williams. “They made plays when they had to. We hit the ball right at people the whole day long. We hit the ball hard three or four times and it was right at people. But both teams played well. I thought we pitched the ball well. But that one big hit, it took the pressure off them. And the pressure was on us to come back”