ROBINSON TWP — Two double plays and one bad inning spelled the end to Butler High's baseball season Thursday at the Burkett Sports Complex.

Central Catholic broke open a close game in the sixth inning, scoring eight runs while sending 14 batters to the plate en route to a 13-1 victory.

The WPIAL Class AAAA playoff contest was halted by the mercy rule after that sixth frame.

"You can get beat 13-1 one day, go out the next day and beat somebody 10-0. Baseball is a strange game that way," Butler coach Dave Florie said. "Unfortunately, we don't have another game to play."

The Golden Tornado took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Colin Williamson led off with a single to center and Roman Bargo walked before John Crummy hit a hard ground ball that Vikings second baseman John Rende turned into a double play.

Butler salvaged a run when the right fielder misplayed Ryan Fennell's deep fly ball for a two-base error.

Central Catholic senior right-hander Ryan Davis settled down after that, allowing Butler only one more hit — a third-inning single by Crummy — in a complete-game performance. He struck out seven and threw only 87 pitches.

Davis, who will play at Temple University, entered the game with a 5-3 record and a 3.00 earned run average.

"Ryan's our ace and he locked in after that first inning," Central coach Frank Lacava said. "He made big pitches when he had to."

Central (12-6) scored a pair of runs in the second inning, getting a sacrifice fly from No. 8 hitter Dom Fazio and an RBI single from No. 9 batter Shane Yuhas. Will Kengor tripled to center and scored on an infield out in the third, hiking the lead to 3-1.

Walks to Zach Rader and Williamson, along with Crummy's bloop single to left, loaded the bases with one out in Butler's third inning. Earlier in his at-bat, Crummy missed a game-tying double down the left field line when the ball landed foul by inches.

No. 4 hitter Ryan Fennell grounded sharply to shortstop, where Kengor started a 6-4-3, inning-ending double play.

"Those early double plays deflated us a bit," Florie said. "We didn't play good baseball in the second half of the season and we didn't play very good baseball today."

Central's versatile attack included 14 hits, five stolen bases, three sacrifice flies and two would-be sacrifice bunts that were beaten out for hits.

Every player in the Vikings' starting lineup either got a hit or drove home a run. Eight different players scored.

Tyler Slepski, the first of four Butler pitchers, took the loss. Bobby Swartwout, Zac Sessa and Joe Malardie followed him on the mound.

Butler closed the season losing six of its final eight games.

"We never really got going," Florie said. "We were winning games in the first half of the year, but they were by softball scores. We outscored teams, but we weren't necessarily playing good ball."

Butler seniors are Sessa, Fennell, Bargo, Crummy, Malardie, Ian Jewart, Cody Montgomery, Cody Pilarcik, Chris Miller and Wes Henderson.

Central Catholic 021 028 x — 13 14 2Butler 100 000 x — 1 2 1W: Ryan Davis 6 IP (7K, 3BB).

L: Tyler Slepski 2 2/3 IP (2K, 3BB).

Central Catholic (12-6): Ryan Davis 2-1B 2-RBI, John Rende 1B, Will Kengor 3B 1B 3-R, Mike Norkus 1B 3-RBI 2-R, Zach Carlino 2-1B 2-RBI, Dan Powell RBI, Anthony Derenzo 1B RBI, Dom Fazio 3-1B 3-RBI 2-R, Shane Yuhas 2-1B RBI

Butler (12-8): Colin Williamson 1B, John Crummy 1B