May 20, 2025 3 min read

By Joe Tuscano

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@obserer-reporter

McMURRAY – It’s easy to see why Serra Catholic is the No. 1-ranked baseball team in Class A in the WPIAL this season.

The Eagles tore up Jefferson-Morgan Tuesday afternoon, 11-1, in the quarterfinals at Peters Township’s Joe Maize Field.

In the day’s nightcap, South Park eliminated Waynesburg 11-1 in a Class 3A quarterfinal.

Serra Catholic scored on myriad different ways and got on base even more, The Eagles used the bunt as an offensive weapon, stole nine bases and induced a couple balks to help the cause.

Did we mention pitching?

Two starters held Jefferson-Morgan (14-4) to just three hits and one run.

“That’s a good team but we didn’t play well today,” said Jefferson-Morgan head coach John Curtis, who celebrated his 400th coaching win earlier this season. “I don’t know what it was. We had a few hits but we couldn’t put anything together.”

Owen Dumbroski started for Serra (18-3) and went four innings, allowing just one hit. Bodie Reiger finished the game, allowing one run in three innings.

“Defensively, we didn’t move the way we’re supposed to,” Curtis said. “And they took advantage of it.”

Jefferson-Morgan’s pitching walked the game into a Mercy Rule affair. The Rockets issued nine free passes.

“I’m very happy,” said Serra Catholic head coach Brian Dzurenda. “We had a long layoff and Jefferson-Morgan had won 13, 14 games. The little things you do make a difference. We’re here because we do the little things.”

South Park, 11-1

No one expected this.

South Park, ranked No. 5 in the WPIAL Class 3A baseball playoffs, acted more like the top-ranked team against Waynesburg, coming away with an 11-1 shellacking in five innings.

“We had a couple days of really good practice,” said Waynesburg head coach Perry Cunningham. “I thought we prepared well. Sometimes, it’s just not your day. Some days you pitch the ball well, sometimes you can’t pitch it across the plate. Look, we can talk about the fact we’ve been in those situations before. There’s a little more intensity to playoff baseball.”

The big inning for South Park came in the fourth when the Eagles scored three runs on a bases-loaded single to center field that was misplayed by the center fielder. South Park would end up scoring six runs on three hits.

“I don’t think I expected that type of (offensive) explosion,” said South Park head coach Corey Fisher. “We’ve done this before. We hit really well against Ringgold and hit well against a Shady Side team. So, I think we knew what type of team we were playing.”

South Park struck first by scoring three runs after a 1-2-3 first inning. The big play came on a grounder to Waynesburg shortstop, whose throw to first was low. That allowed a run to score.

Robert Springnagle blasted a home run to left field to start the third inning.

South Park (14-5) moves on to the Class 3A semifinals. Waynesburg’s season comes to an end with a 16-4 record.

Waynesburg avoided the shutout by scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jacob Stephenson came around to score after drawing a walk.