McKEESPORT – A year ago, Serra Catholic came oh-so-close to winning the PIAA Class A baseball title before falling 7-3 in the championship game to Camp Hill.
The Eagles may just get that state championship this year. Going into action Wednesday, Serra is 16-1 on the year, including a 6-0 mark in WPIAL Class A Section 5.
"It just comes down to we have a veteran ball club," Serra coach Brian Dzurenda told the McKeesport Daily News following a win over Jeannette last week. "These kids have the heart of a champion."
The Eagles also have what many great teams have, an explosive offense and solid pitching. The offense has led Serra Catholic to 15 straight wins since a 6-5 loss in the second game of the year to
Seton LaSalle (Pittsburgh). During the winning streak, the Eagles are averaging 13.1 runs per game and have scored in double digits 13 times while not being held to fewer than seven runs in any of those wins.
Junior
Chris Miller leads that offense. Miller is hitting .573 (31 of 54) with four home runs, nine doubles, 28 RBI and 24 runs scored. He has hit safely in 16 of 17 games and has 10 multiple-hit games, including five straight. He is coming off a 4-for-4 performance with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in an 11-7 win over Beaver Falls on Saturday.
Backing Miller up in the potent Eagles lineup are brothers
Oliver Girman and Alain Girman. Oliver, a senior, is hitting .446 (25 of 56) with a pair of dingers, four doubles, 18 RBI and 22 runs scored. Alain, a sophomore, is hitting .410 with a pair of home runs, seven doubles, four triples, 22 RBI and 25 runs scored. The Girmans are also the top two pitchers for Serra Catholic. Oliver has a microscopic 0.93 ERA in 22 2/3 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .190 off him with three extra-base hits. Alain, meanwhile, has a 1.56 ERA and is also 4-0. In 27 innings of work, opponents are hitting just .170 against him.
"We’re feeling good; we’re confident," Alain Girman told the McKeesport Daily News last week of an Eagles team that goes into Wednesday with just two regular-season games left. "We’re just trying to win. We come out here no matter if it’s a one-run game or a 10-run game."
Serra’s biggest challenges would seem to come from a pair of teams from Section 2,
California (Coal Center) at 16-1 and Bentworth (Bentleyville) at 14-2, and a pair from Section 3 in Neshannock (New Castle) (12-4) and Monaca (11-4), as well as Section 1’s Bethlehem Center (Fredericktown) (10-3).
Hopewell lone unbeaten WPIAL baseball team: At 18-0,
Hopewell (Aliquippa) remains the lone unbeaten WPIAL baseball team. The Vikings have just two regular-season games left, both against teams they beat earlier this year. Friday, they are at Moon Area (Moon Township), a squad they beat 10-7 April 21, and then Monday, May 10, they host Blackhawk (Beaver Falls), who they beat 7-4 April 5.
The Vikings, though, know the regular season means little. Last year, Hopewell went 20-3, including 19-1 in the regular season, but lost to Moon 15-13 in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals and to
Trinity (Camp Hill) 4-2 in the WPIAL consolation game, and failed to make the PIAA playoffs. If they advance into the PIAAs this season, it will be because of an offense that had two of the top three home-run hitters in the WPIAL through April 18 with Scott Diedorf having six to go with 18 RBI and Matt Rubino knocking five with 20 RBI.
Valley softball circle presence helps Vikings remain unbeaten: Thanks to outstanding pitching, the
Valley (New Kensington) softball team remains the only unbeaten WPIAL softball squad following an 8-0 win over Deer Lakes (Russellton) on Tuesday that upped the Vikings' record to 15-0. It was the 10th shutout on the year by Valley, which has allowed just six runs all season, including more than one just once. Caitlin Nealer is the leader of the staff.
The Vikings' biggest competition has come from conference rival
Burrell (Lower Burrell), which is 13-1 with the lone loss coming 7-1 to Valley on April 20. Burrell hosts Valley in the regular-season finale Monday.
Oil City’s Koyack to play football at Norte Dame: Oil City senior tight end
Ben Koyack made a verbal commitment to Norte Dame last week. Koyack had 43 catches for 748 yards and seven touchdowns while helping the Oilers to an 8-3 record last year.
Oil City is located about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh and 60 miles south of Erie. It is also just eight miles from
Franklin, which is brought up because a pretty good collegiate tight end came out of Franklin just five years ago. Nate Byham went on to start at the University of Pittsburgh, where he became the first tight end in school history to earn to All-Big East awards (first team in 2008, 2nd team in 2009). Chosen in the sixth round of this year’s NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Byham had 47 career catches for 612 yards and three touchdowns, including 10 for 108 yards this past year.
