Serra’s season ends in PIAA semis
By Ashley Chase
MVI Sports
A trip to the PIAA state championship game wasn’t in the cards for Serra Catholic.
Shenango shut out the Eagles, 5-0, to advance to the PIAA final Monday, ending a remarkable run by Serra.
“I couldn’t ask for any more,” said head coach Brian Dzurenda.
The Eagles (21-5) finished third in the WPIAL, knocked off District 6 champion Southern Huntingdon and WPIAL playoff nemesis Seton LaSalle en route to a semifinal appearance, finishing in Class 2A’s final four.
Wildcats ace Shane Cato pitched a gem, allowing no runs on four hits and striking out eight in the victory.
“We knew what we were up against today,” Dzurenda said. “I thought we had a pretty decent showing, it just didn’t come together and go our way.”
Shenango used a trio of first inning singles to take a 2-0 lead.
Cre Calabria led off with a hit and later scored from second on an RBI swing from Ethan Bintrim. Another RBI single from Zach Herb brought Bintrim in, but Herb was caught stealing on a crisp throw to second from catcher Nico Eremic to Ethan Coddington to end the inning.
The Wildcats doubled their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Calabria and Bintrim reached on an error and a walk. With one out, Cato helped himself out with a two-run double to put Shenango ahead 4-0.
Zach Karp pitched into the sixth inning before Max Rocco came in to relieve him. The sophomore left-hander went five innings, tossing three strikeouts and walking a pair of batters while allowing six hits and four runs, three of them earned.
“He’s a fierce competitor out there, just stoic,” Dzurenda said of Karp. “It wasn’t his best game but he battled, he competed. He’s gobbled a lot of innings these last three games. I was asking a lot of him today. The goal was to get him through five innings and hopefully be within two runs.”
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