Serra ready for next playoff challenge

The Eagles will face No. 8 seed Laurel Monday afternoon at North Allegheny High School.

No. 8 Laurel’s 7-2 victory Tuesday over No. 9 Charleroi to advance to the WPIAL Class 2A quarterfinals set up a meeting with another Mon Valley squad in Serra Catholic.

The No. 1 Eagles (15-1) will take on the Spartans (11-8) Monday at North Allegheny High School. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

After a first-round bye, Serra Catholic hasn’t played an official game since an 18-3 triumph over Brentwood May 7. However, head coach Brian Dzurenda made it clear that his team hasn’t been sitting around waiting to play.

Not only have the Eagles been playing unofficial games, they even managed to get out on the practice field Friday in the rainy weather.

“We scrimmaged Union and Indiana, so there was no layoff for us,” Dzurenda said. “We probably played more games than other teams have been playing, so I feel good about where we’re at.

“One of our sayings is, ‘When it’s too tough for them, it’s just right for us.’ We figure we’re the only team on the field (Friday) taking live batting practice.”

The Eagles won their first 11 games of the season before a 5-4 loss to a Class 3A playoff team in Valley. Since then, Serra Catholic has won four straight, including a sweep over No. 5 Greensburg Central Catholic.

They’re led by Zach Black, Jake Holmes and Collin Holmes, among other strong offensive pieces. Isiah Petty, Max Black and Carmen Chiaverini have also come up big for the Eagles throughout the year.

On the mound, Tyler Skaggs and Owen Dumbroski do the majority of the work with Collin Holmes slotting in behind them.

“We’ve been grinding all year, and I thought the scrimmages went really well,” Dzurenda said. “We played two strong teams and we played well in both of those games. Our kids looked like they’re ready to play in a playoff game.”

Dzurenda and his coaching staff were in attendance for the matchup between Laurel and Charleroi, and he said his opponents are not to be taken lightly.

“They’re a very well-coached team with a lot of energy,” he said. “They have two very accomplished pitchers, so we’ll have our work cut out for us. They don’t look like an eight seed.”

The Spartans clinched the No. 8 seed by finishing third in Section 2-2A behind No. 2 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and No. 3 Seton La-Salle.

Kolton Carlson leads Laurel with a .453 batting average and 25 RBIs on the season. Luca Santini (.284) and Will Zwolenik (.271) have 15 RBIs while Jacob McBride (.315) and Tyler Shearer (.288) have knocked in 14 runs each.

Hunter Kobialka is the ace of the staff, entering the game with a 2.49 ERA. He has 43 strikeouts with 30 runs allowed in 45 innings of work.

Santini has accumulated 39 innings on the mound, striking out 68 and allowing 30 runs with an ERA of 4.31.

Serra Catholic will look to overcome the Spartans the same way that it managed to dispatch other squads throughout the year.

“Timely hitting will obviously come into play,” Dzurenda said. “We’ve had that most of the year, so we’re hoping to keep that going. When you have a first-round bye, a lot of times the speed of a playoff game is a little bit more intense, so it’ll take an inning or two to adjust. You’ve just got to hope that after an inning or two that they can jump into playoff action.

“… There’s a lot on the line here, so we’ve got to make sure that we have timely hitting, we’re turning routine double plays and we’re catching routine fly balls.”

The Eagles will be looking to advance to the WPIAL semifinals for the ninth straight season as their program has been one of the best in the district for a long time.

In their eyes, they feel that they deserve to take on the winner of No. 4 Burgettstown and No. 5 Greensburg CC for a chance at the district title, which they lost to Seton La-Salle last year but won the season before over Neshannock.

On Monday, they’ll have the chance to prove it.

“Making the semifinal is an expectation for us,” Dzurenda said. “My job as a head coach is to drive it into their heads that they have to be consistent, they have to make routine plays, they have to get bunts down when they need to and they have to bring high energy.”