JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley baseball team kept its eyes on the prize in 2007, and the Raiders are now defending state champions because of it.

SV used an avalanche of offense in extra innings to top Souderton 9-1 in the PIAA Quad A state final at Altoona's Blair County Ballpark June 16.

The state championship, the second in the program's history, was voted as the top Butler County sports story of 2007 by the sports staff of the Butler Eagle.

"Every year we seem to have three or four very talented players," said Raiders coach Eric Semega. "(In 2007) we had 13. That kind of puts it into perspective."

But before SV and its fans could plan their trip to Altoona, the Raiders had to recover from a WPIAL semifinal loss to Bethel Park.

Seneca Valley faced off against the Black Hawks on a hot afternoon at North Allegheny on May 23.

The Raiders entered the game riding a 17-game winning streak, but Bethel Park plated eight runs in the top of the eighth inning in a 12-4 win.

The Raiders' WPIAL title hopes were gone, but they still had a chance to make a state playoff run if they could beat Plum in the WPIAL third-place consolation game May 30 at Shaler's Matulevic Field.

Andrew Fornadel and Shaine Patsilevas homered and junior pitcher Cory Mazzoni pitched out of two jams in the final three innings as the Raiders avenged their lone regular-season loss with a 6-5 win over the Mustangs.

"We didn't want to have the same feeling like we had after the WPIAL loss to Bethel Park," said Fornadel, the team's designated hitter. "We remained focused going into every game after that."

Playoff wins over Erie Cathedral Prep (13-3), Peters Township (5-2) and State College (8-3) earned SV a trip to the PIAA championship.

The Raiders battled Souderton to a scoreless tie through seven innings before SV took a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Souderton tied the game and had the bases loaded with one out.

Mazzoni got the next two batters to ground into fielder's choices to end the inning.

"That's the moment that sticks out most," said Semega. "Cory got two balls hit to (shortstop Kenny Walrond). If the ball would have been hit to any other place, we wouldn't have been state champs."

Seneca Valley then scored eight runs in the top of the ninth inning before Mazzoni officially closed the season.

The Raiders ended the campaign with a record of 22-2.

One of the many Seneca Valley supporters in the stands that day was former Raiders coach Dave Florie, who now coaches Butler's varsity team.

Florie led the Raiders to the program's first state baseball title in 1995.

"I was very happy for the whole team," said Florie, who coached the Raiders from 1985-2000. "All of the coaches, except Jeff Hayward, were on my staff when I coached there. And a lot of the players, Cory Mazzoni, Ken Walrond ... they used to come to my baseball camp at Seneca Valley when they were just kids."

The Raiders received their PIAA championship rings late in the summer.

Next up for the team is to defend the title, which will certainly prove to be easier said than done.

But the Raiders have the talent to compete for back-to-back titles.

Five players were lost to graduation, but the team returns many stars.

"We have 12 seniors coming back," said Fornadel. "We'll be very deep in pitching, and our hitting is good, too.

"We should be a very strong team."