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in loss to SerraEverything goes wrong for ’CatsBy Steve Treu merer.third for cleanup hitter T. J. Ka-New Castle NewsThe baseball gods had to be rooting for Serra Catholic, because the Shenango High baseball team had a helluva time getting anything to go its way.The Eagles took advantage of every opportunity thrown at them, and the Wildcats did not catch a single break yesterday, resulting in Serra’s 4-2 victory in the opening round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs at Flaherty Field.With ace pitcher Jason Rich on the mound against No. 2 starter Ryan Malady for Serra (14-3), Shenango (12-4) appeared to be favored heading into the game. It stayed that way for about 15 minutes, before strange things started to happen to the ’Cats.Rich blew through the top of the first inning on two strikeouts and an easy grounder, and Shenango immediately got to work in the bottom of the frame. William DeCarbo’s double inside third base put runners on second andThat’s when the sky began to fall in on Shenango.Kamerer popped out to short left field, defusing what typically would have been a big inning for the ’Cats. As Section 13’s leading hitter this season, Kamerer frequently delivered in the clutch.After Rich had another easy inning, Mike Strohecker led off the bottom of the second with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice. Tom Smith ripped a single to left that Strohecker tried to score on, but he was gunned down at the plate by left fielder Dan Swearingen.Rich, the best pitcher in Section 13, then lost control. With two outs and a man on in the third, Serra’s Pete Chalus doubled off the left-center fence to score the first run of the game.After Swearingen singled home Chalus, Rich walked three consecutive batters to force in another run, forcing Shenango coach Jan Budai to take his ace off the mound. Kamerer relieved Richand recorded a strikeout to getout of the jam.“Jason felt good and pitched well for two innings, but he fell apart in the third,” Budai said. “One bad inning, and that was it.”That was it for Rich (6-1), but the bad luck continued for the’Cats.Kamerer allowed a lead off single to B.J. Popp in the fourth and proceeded to strike out the next two batters and retire the third on a fly ball. But in the meantime, Popp moved to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another passed ball. Even though the Eagles botched a suicide squeeze play with Popp racing toward home, they still scored when the ball squirted away from catcher Jim Patterson.Kamerer shut the door on the Eagles thereafter, but Serra already led 4-0.“We didn’t squander any scoring opportunities,” Serra coach Bill Cleary said.The 'Cats squandered several scoring opportunities. Shenango Please see CATS, page 20
Newspaper Details
New Castle News Weekend
New Castle, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, May 22, 1993
Page 17
Full Page
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USA 05 Sep 2022
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