Sharpsville eliminated by Philipsburg-Osceola

The Mounties scored five times in the third inning for the win.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
INDIANA, Pa. -- Although it took seven innings to complete Thursday's PIAA baseball game between Sharpsville and Philipsburg-Osceola, it only took one inning to determine the winner as P-O downed the Blue Devils, 5-2, to advance to the Class AA state semifinals.
"It was a tough way to go, but those were two good teams out there today," Sharpsville coach Kirk Scurpa said. "We kind of got jumped on in that third inning and after that, we kept their bats fairly quiet and they kept ours quiet as well.
"They just had a better third inning than we did and right now, it is going to be a hard pill to swallow," Scurpa.
Both teams did all of their scoring in the third inning.
Sharpsville got things going in the top half of the inning when Torin Karsonovich walked, Kyle Rupp was safe on a fielder's choice, and both Karsonovich and Rupp scored on a two-run single by Josh Fyffe.
Five-run outburst
Philipsburg-Osceola answered with five of its own.
The big hits for the Mounties were a two-run double to right-center by designated hitter Ben Maurer and a bases-clearing double to left-center by winning pitcher Ryan Marcinko.
"[Sharpsville pitcher Jarryd Summers] was really pumped up with adrenaline," Scurpa said. "He got the first out and his adrenaline was getting the best of him.
"He was coming off the mound a little harder than we like to see a kid come off the mound," Scurpa said. "I went out there and tried to keep him relaxed, but as it turned out, it didn't work."
Other than the third inning, Summers pitched a strong game. He retired six of the first eight batters he faced before closing out the final three innings by retiring nine in a row, a streak that included five of his eight strikeouts.
"We knew they were a good fastball-hitting team," Scurpa said. "But other than the third inning, [Summers] did a great job. We just couldn't get anything going to come back on them."
Another threat
The Blue Devils' other serious threat came in the fifth when Matt Davies and Rupp hit back-to-back two-out singles.
However, not showing Fyffe anything decent to hit, Marcinko was able to coax Fyffe into a soft pop fly to second baseman Derrick Weitiosh to end the threat.
"[Marcinko] didn't throw Josh a fastball all day long," Scurpa said. "Josh had a tough time staying back on [the breaking ball]."
P-O coach Doug Sankey admitted he didn't want his pitcher to give Fyffe anything he could handle in the fifth inning.
"I just made up my mind that we weren't going to give him anything to hit," Sankey said. "If we walked him, fine, because we were going to bring in Matt [Curtis] to pitch to the next batter.
"This was going to be [Marcinko's] last guy so we were either going to get him with his good stuff or bring in Matt to finish it," Sankey said.
Finishing at 16-6 after starting the season at 3-4, Scurpa had some good things to say about his group of seniors that included Ian Brown, Rupp, Fyffe, Brian Ellison, Ryan Morris and Ryan Ruszkiewicz.
"Those kids are all going to be missed," Scurpa said. "They are just a solid group of kids and I had them over at my house a lot and they are just a group of athletes. They did a lot for our program."
Philipsburg-Osceola will play defending state champion Riverside in the semifinals. Riverside escaped with a narrow 9-8 win over Bedford to stay alive.