Royals Roll On

The Holy Redeemer Royals and the Tamaqua Blue Raiders faced off in the First Round of the PIAA Class 3A State Playoffs. The Royals came in as the District 2 Champion and the Blue Raiders entered as the Champion of District 11. The Royals went to Tony Molitoris on the mound. Thad Zuber got the start for Tamaqua. Casey Rother hit a two out single for Tamaqua but a groundout back to Molitoris ended the top of the first. Tim Cavanaugh hit a one out single for the Royals. After a lineout, Cade Flanley hit a single but a groundout would end the inning keeping the game scoreless. Josh Inama hit a leadoff to start it off for the Blue Raiders but Molitoris would retire the next three batters to keep Tamaqua off the board. Molitoris started off with a single, then his courtesy runner moved to second on a Rob McClay sacrifice bunt. Mykolas Bozentka hit a double to left center to score Vender to make it 1-0 Royals. Sean Wills would reach on an error, then Tucker Ell hit a perfect bunt single down to get the bases loaded with one out. Cavanaugh would bring home Bozentka on a single to make it 2-0. Tom Borum would then bring home Wills on a fielder's choice and a 3-0 advantage. A flyout would end the inning. Molitoris would throw a 1-2-3 third inning for the Royals. Molitoris would draw a one out walk, then after a strikeout, Bozentka would hit a double to score Vender once again to make it 4-0 Royals. Sean Wills would reach on a fielding error that would score Bozentka for a 5-0 lead. A strikeout would end the inning. Molitoris would throw a second consecutive inning in the fourth to keep the shutout going. Nate Boyle would come in to pitch for the Blue Raiders to start the fourth. Borum would hit a one out single but his courtesy runner would get thrown out at second on the next batter for the second out. Flanley would hit a single but a strikeout would end the inning. A third consecutive inning Molitoris would go 1-2-3 for the Royals in the fifth. Molitoris would hit a leadoff single but Boyle would retire the next three batters to end the fifth. Molitoris continued the streak for another inning and the streak would hit 15 in a row at the end of the top of the sixth. Boyle threw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Blue Raiders. Molitoris ended the game by retiring 18 in a row as the Royals took the victory 5-0 over Tamaqua.

Thoughts on the game: Tony Molitoris pitched great, only gave up two hits. He only had one strikeout but his defense played great behind him. Mycholas Bozentka had a great game today, hitting two doubles and drove in two. It was a great season for Tamaqua, winning a District Title and with a pretty young team too.

Tamaqua 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Holy Redeemer 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 5

Tamaqua
SS/P Boyle 3 0 0 0
CF Barron 3 0 0 0
C Rother 3 0 1 0
3B Kupchinski 3 0 0 0
1B Inama 3 0 1 0
P/SS Zuber 1 0 0 0
2B Banditelli 0 0 0 0
DH Minchoff 2 0 0 0
RF Breiner 2 0 0 0
LF Benetsky 2 0 0 0

Holy Redeemer
SS Ell 4 0 1 0
2B Cavanaugh 4 0 2 1
C Borum 4 0 1 1
3B Flanley 3 0 2 0
1B Choman 3 0 0 0
P Molitoris 2 2 2 0
CF McClay 1 0 0 0
LF Ambosie 0 0 0 0
DH Bozentka 3 2 2 2
RF Wills 3 1 0 0

2B: Bozentka (2)

Pitching
Tamaqua
Zuber (L) 3 IP 19 BF 5 R 7 H 3 K 1 BB
Boyle 3 IP 11 BF 0 R 0 ER 3 H 2 K 0 BB

Holy Redeemer
Molitoris 7 IP 23 BF 0 R 0 ER 2 H 1 K 0 BB