SHALER TWP — Butler was playing for extra innings.

The Golden Tornado came within inches of getting there.

With the score tied at two with Plum in the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday’s WPIAL Class AAAA first-round baseball playoff game, Mustang center fielder Ethan Winesburgh came to the plate with runners at first and second and two outs.

He launched Wyatt Daugherty’s pitch to deep left, where Butler’s Nick Malis started backing up toward the fence. Malis took a few steps to his right, but had misjudged the ball and had to resort to making a diving attempt on it. The ball landed in his glove, but then popped out as his body hit the ground.

Plum’s Brian Albert, who began the play at second base, tripped coming around third, but got to his feet and scored the deciding run in a 3-2 win at Shaler High School’s Matulevic Field.

Butler’s dugout erupted in protest.

“They were saying I helped Brian to his feet and pushed him toward home plate,” said Plum coach Carl Vollmer, who was the third base coach. “That didn’t happen.”

“I didn’t see it,” said Butler coach Todd Erdos. “But some of our guys said the coach helped the runner.”

The play was scored a hit, but Malis remained on his knees in left field for a moment, knowing he had the inning’s final out in his glove.

“This was actually his first start of the season in left,” said Erdos. “He wasn’t 100 percent healthy at the start of the year, but had played well in right field and had been hitting the ball well lately. Nobody feels worse about that play than he does.”

Albert had singled with one out and stole second base with two outs. An intentional walk to Alexander Kirilloff brought Winesburgh to the plate.

“I credit our guys for battling,” Vollmer said. “They battled in every at-bat today and I’m proud of them.”

“A lot of people are going to look at the last play of the game, but we had other opportunities to win today,” said Erdos.

Specifically, he was referring to the top of the first when Butler’s bats had Kirilloff on the ropes.

Garett Goslaw was hit by a pitch with one out before Ian Steighner, Cade Negley and Connor Ollio drilled three consecutive singles that put Butler up 2-0. But with runners at second and third, Dallas Hays grounded out and Lake Sankey struck out to end the inning.

“That was critical,” Vollmer said. “Another hit there and it’s 4-0 and that changes the whole complexion of the game. But Alexander settled down and got out of it.”

The second inning wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for the junior left-hander, either. Though he didn’t surrender a hit in the frame, Kirilloff did issue a leadoff walk to Mark Gross. He then fielded a sacrifice bunt from Malis and threw the ball away, giving the Tornado two men on with nobody out.

From that point on, however, Kirilloff returned to his usual dominant self.

He retired 11 straight batters and allowed just one more hit in the game — Hays’ single in the top of the sixth.

“You typically see that with good starting pitchers,” said Erdos. “It may take them an inning or two to settle down, but once they do, they are very tough to get to.”

Kirilloff verbally committed to play at Liberty University when he was just a freshman. He struck out six and walked two in Wednesday’s victory, which improved Plum’s record to 19-2.

“He does the job on the mound and at the plate for us,” Vollmer said. “He should be the WPIAL (Class AAAA) MVP.”

Negley had a strong game on the mound for Butler, allowing just two runs on seven hits over six innings.

Austen Carney scored Plum’s first two runs — on Alex Terrell’s double in the second frame and Tom Zummo’s base hit in the fourth.

Butler’s season ends with an overall record of 10-10.

“I thought it was a great season overall,” said Erdos. “We had a lot of ups and downs, but we came together as the season progressed.”

Butler 200 000 0 — 2 4 0

Plum 010 100 1 — 3 9 2

W: Alexander Kirilloff 7 IP (6K, 2BB). L: Wyatt Daugherty .2 IP (1K, 1BB).

Butler (10-10): Garett Goslaw R, Ian Steighner 1B R, Cade Negley 1B RBI, Connor Ollio 1B, Dallas Hays 1B

Plum (19-2): Brian Albert 1B R, Taylor Vivino 1B, Ethan Winesburgh 1B RBI, Nick Satovich 2-1B, Austen Carney 2B 2R, Brandon Williams 1B, Alex Terrell 2B RBI, Tom Zummo 1B RBI