Top 15 baseball finals in 15 years at Wild Things Park: Serra Catholic takes down Neshannock in 2010

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, May 21, 2018 | 4:06 PM

The TribLive High School Sports Network is counting down the Top 15 WPIAL baseball championship games held over the past 15 years at Wild Things Park.

Catch all the postseason action on the exclusive broadcast home of the WPIAL baseball playoffs, the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Here's a look at No. 8:

2010 Class A championship: Serra Catholic 7, Neshannock 3

It wasn't perfection. It wasn't always a thing of beauty. But in the end, Alain Girman tossed a golden gem.

Serra Catholic won a second straight WPIAL Class A championship thanks to Girman's no-hitter in a 7-3 triumph over Neshannock. It was the first and to this point, only no-hitter thrown at Wild Things Park.

The no-no was nothing new for the sophomore left-hander. Girman threw a five-inning no-hitter in the previous game, a 10-0 whitewash of Vincentian Academy in the WPIAL semifinals, becoming the modern day Johnny Vander Meer, the only pitcher in major league history to throw back-to-back no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.

A no-hitter with three runs allowed and the tying run at the plate in the seventh?

Some shoddy defense and a lack of control in both the third and seventh innings turned what could have been a laugher into an intriguing, historic contest.

Two walks and a hit batter led to a run for Neshannock in the third.

Then the Lancers made things interesting in the seventh down 7-1. Two Eagles errors and three Girman walks made it 7-3 with the bases loaded and two outs when John Sansone hit a fly ball to deep right field. However, after making an error earlier in the inning, Serra Catholic right fielder Avery Sandor made the catch just shy of the warning track.

All the offense Serra Catholic needed came in the third and fourth innings.

Ryan Caldwell doubled home Tyler Kugler with the first Eagles' run. Caldwell scored on Girman's RBI single. Girman then scored on one of three Lancers errors in the third.

The Eagles four-run fourth inning was highlighted by a two-run homer by Caldwell that chased Lancers starter Alex Strittmatter.

Not only did Caldwell deliver at the plate, but Serra coach Brian Dzurenda thinks back to his defense as a key to the outcome, as well.

“I felt Ryan Caldwell's defensive plays set the tone for the game,” he said. “Ryan made four remarkable plays at shortstop to keep the no-hitter intact.”

Girman walked six Lancers, but struck out 12 in his historic victory.

“Girman was hitting 92 mph all night from pitch 1 to pitch 110,” Dzurenda said.

The title was the second of three district crowns for Serra Catholic, which fell short of a state crown by losing 4-3 to Christopher Dock in the 2010 PIAA Class A championship game.

Neshannock settled for silver, but bounced back to win consecutive WPIAL baseball titles in 2011 and ‘12.

Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: Neshannock