MARS — Eight innings and more than two hours decided nothing Monday night.

It took just 14 minutes for the fate of the Mars and Cranberry Eagle County League baseball teams to be sealed Tuesday evening.

In less time than it takes for a pizza to be delivered, Mars finished off Cranberry to win the best-of-five semifinal series in three games, 1-0.

“Now we're going to Luciano's for pizza,” said Mars player/manager Brendan Malone, smiling.

Both teams put up zeros before darkness engulfed Marburger Field and forced the game to be suspended at 0-0 heading into the ninth inning Monday.

Less than 24 hours later, the two teams were at it again on the same field and Mars was able to score on a sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the ninth to finish off the sweep.

That sends Mars to the Eagle County championship series, where it will face a familiar foe, Saxonburg.

The best-of-five series will begin at Marburger Field at 6 p.m. Friday.

“The good thing is we had this situation a few years ago,” Malone said. “We came back and lost that game. It was me who made the last out last night, and I kept thinking about it.

“Everyone was all geared up,” he added. “We did our normal approach to any other game and luckily we only had to play one inning today.”

Not even that, actually.

Brian Zima took the hill Tuesday, relieving Matt DeSalvo, who struck out eight and didn't walk a batter in eight innings Monday.

Zima picked up where DeSalvo left off, getting a pop-up to short and then back-to-back strikeouts to end the top of the ninth quickly.

Mars opened the bottom of the inning with a sharp single from Dan Penberthy off Tyler Mayo.

Mayo relieved Luke Burton, who matched DeSalvo pitch for pitch Monday, striking out nine and walking two in eight four-hit innings.

Bob Spithaler followed by reaching on a fielder's choice and moved to second on a passed ball ahead of a walk by Dan Berty.

Spithaler, not the fleetest of foot, then showed off his aggressiveness on the bases.

He stole third, taking off before Mayo had finished his stretch, and then scored the winning run on a shallow sacrifice fly to center off the bat of John Poppert.

“It surprised everybody, I think,” said Malone, who was the first base coach during the inning. “I was a little iffy about that myself. It was gutsy. Very gutsy. That's the way Bob has played all year. He's extremely aggressive and it paid off this time.”

For Cranberry, it was another disappointing end.

“That was quick,” said Cranberry player/manager Bill Clinefelter. “I don't think a lot of people expected us to play as well as we did (Monday) against DeSalvo. We definitely gave them a game.

“Luke was outstanding,” Clinefelter added of his starting pitcher. “You just wish there was lights (Monday) so we could have kept going. It shouldn't have ended that way.”

Mars has won three straight league championships and swept Saxonburg last year.

“I know they want to beat us really bad and we want to beat them really bad,” said Malone, who used to play for Saxonburg and its manager Dan Cunningham. “It's the old guys versus the young guys. We know each other really well.”

Cranberry 000 000 000 — 0 4 1Mars 000 000 001 — 1 5 0One out when winning run scoredW: Brian Zima 1IP (2K, 0BB). L: Tyler Mayo 0.2IP (0K, 1BB).Cranberry: Tanner Master 2B, Brad Johnson 1B, Joe Babinack 1B, Bill Clinefelter 1BMars: Sam Sibeto Jr. 1B, Dan Penberthy 2-1B, John Tavares 1B, John Poppert 1B RBI, Bob Spithaler SB RFriday: Saxonburg at Mars, Game 1 of best-of-5 championship series