BUTLER TWP — It was the end for the Butler baseball team.

But the Golden Tornado certainly didn't go down without a fight.

Butler rallied from 4-1, 6-3, 8-5 and 10-8 deficits, but fell a run short in an 11-10 loss to North Hills in 10 innings Monday at Highfield Park.

"I couldn't be more proud of the team for whatever the words you want to use are," said Butler coach Dave Florie. "Battling. Hanging. Showing a lot of belly fortitude. All those words described that team today. They did not want to quit."

Butler trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the second inning, then cut the lead to 4-3. When North Hills built a 6-3 lead an inning later, Butler rallied to make it 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth.

And when the Indians went ahead 8-5 in the top of the seventh, that's when Butler unveiled its best heroics.

Jordan Roycroft hit a two-run home run to cut the lead to 8-7, then Zach Cuffman lined a two-out double to plate Brian Warheit with the tying run.

An inning later, trailing 10-8 after North Hills pushed across a pair of runs on a two-run single by Andy Heck, Roycroft came through again with a run-scoring triple then scored on a bloop single by Bill Coleman.

It looked like Butler had the magic to pull off another amazing comeback win.

Last week, the Golden Tornado rallied from eight runs down to topple North Allegheny.

"They have a fantastic club," said North Hills coach Nate Buttenfield. "They scratched and clawed just as much as we did. We just got the break at the end."

North Hills scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 10th when Brian Wisniewski led off with a single and eventually scored on a single by Ryan Fairbrother.

It was vindication for Wisniewski, who blew the three-run lead and the save in the eighth in relief of Heck.

Wisniewski induced a pair of ground ball outs after he plunked Andy Onufrak with a two-strike pitch to make things interesting again.

He was also a terror at the plate, with four hits, including a triple, and two RBI.

"This was a big win for us," Buttenfield said. "We came in with three straight losses and we needed this one."

North Hills needs to beat North Allegheny Wednesday to remain in the muddled playoff picture.

Only Seneca Valley, at 11-0 in the section, is assured a playoff spot heading into the final game of the season.

Dallas O'Donnell picked up the hard-luck loss for Butler. The soft-lobbing left-hander relieved Andy Geibel to begin the fourth inning, retired the first nine batters he faced to keep Butler in the game, and worked seven effective innings.

His array of off-speed stuff was a perfect change of pace for Butler. O'Donnell struck out three and walked five, although two of them were intentional.

This is the second year in a row Butler has just missed out on a playoff spot.

The Golden Tornado loses only five seniors to graduation.

"I feel for the kids," Florie said. "They were spirited and they fought so hard because they knew this was a must-win game for us to make the playoffs. That was all the motivation they had. My main concern is we improved as the season went along. We started playing better baseball as the season went along. I'm happy about that."

North Hills 222 000 220 1—11 13 1Butler 120 020 320 0—10 12 1Andy Heck (2 K, 2 BB), Brian Wisniewski (8) and Geoff Lyons; Tim Geibel (3 K, 3 BB), Dallas O'Donnell (4) and Ryan Geibel, Jamie Masciarelli (4).

W: Wisniewski (2 K, 0 BB).

L: O'Donnell (2 K, 5 BB).

North Hills (8-8, 6-5): Wisniewski 3-1B 3B 2-RBI, Dan Corrado 1B, Heck 2-1B 2-RBI, Jesse Bauer 2-1B 2-RBI, Ryan Fairbrother 2-1B 3-RBI, Pat Bauer RBI, Brad Scullion 1B, Lyons 1B RBI.

Butler (9-9, 4-7): Darren Blakley 3B RBI, Dustin Uhlman 1B, Andy Onufrak 2-2B 1B RBI, Jordan Roycroft HR 3B 3-RBI, Bill Coleman 2-1B RBI, O'Donnell 2B 2-RBI, Zach Cuffman 2B RBI, Masciarelli 1B

Wednesday: Butler at Seneca Valley