SHALER TWP — Branden Munshower might be the third pitcher on Norwin's depth chart, but he sure looked like an ace Wednesday evening.

The senior right-hander shut out Seneca Valley on five hits in the Knights' 4-0 victory in the WPIAL Quad A semifinals at Shaler High School's Matulevic Field.

Norwin had used its top two pitchers, Tom Shirley and Paul Bugajski, in its first two playoff games against Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Baldwin.

But Munshower's numbers this season reveal he is not your typical No. 3 pitcher.

Entering Wednesday's game, Munshower was 3-0 with a 1.67 earned run average. He had struck out 21 batters while walking just four in 21 innings of work.

He wasted no time in getting the upper hand on SV's hitters.

The first two batters in the Raiders' lineup, Phil Double and Zach Duggan, struck out looking in the bottom of the first inning. It was the beginning of a seven-strikeout day, compared to just one walk for Munshower.

Heading the pitcher's arsenal was a curveball that kept SV's hitters off-balance all night.

"I don't consider him to be a No. 3 pitcher," said Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega. "He's one of the best we've seen all year.

"He threw that curveball about 80 percent of the time, so our hitters went to the plate knowing what to look for and he was still able to get the job done," added Semega.

Munshower's teammates gave him an early lead with a run in each of the first two innings and two more in the third frame.

The biggest blow came in the top of the third, when SV starting pitcher Kyle Helisek surrendered a leadoff double to Jon Salmon and then a two-run home run to Norwin catcher Mark Woleslagle for a 4-0 deficit.

Semega elected to pull Helisek following the round-tripper in favor of Dave Monteleone.

"Kyle has nothing to be ashamed of," said Semega. "As a pitcher, you'll have those days when you just don't have it for whatever reason. He didn't have it today, but we wouldn't have gone this far if it wasn't for him."

Staked to a four-run lead, the attention was turned back to Munshower, who received a defensive gem behind him in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Raiders managed to get their first two batters on base — Kevan Smith on an infield single and Brett Spagnola with a walk. Following a sacrifice bunt from Cory Mazzoni, which moved the runners to second and third base, Munshower struck out Andrew Fornadel for the second out.

First baseman Dan Jergel came to the plate and smacked what appeared to be a single up the middle.

But Norwin shortstop Jordan McCauley showed his range, diving to his left and making the play behind second base. His throw to first was just in time to get Jergel.

"Our defense hasn't been that good," said Norwin coach Mike Liebdzinski. "We thought it would kill us when we went up against a good team. But they made the plays today."

Meanwhile, Monteleone's job in relief was superb.

The hard-throwing senior pitched five innings, striking out four and walking three. Most importantly, he gave up no runs and kept his team within striking distance.

But Munshower stayed on his game, getting out of one more jam in the bottom of the fifth inning.

SV had runners at first and third with Smith due up. But on a 3-2 pitch, Munshower got the star catcher to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.

"We weren't expecting this kind of performance," said Liebdzinski. "We thought we'd have to score a few runs to stay in the game. We thought we'd give up a few to Seneca Valley."

The loss ends the Raiders season with a record of 13-7.

"With as young of a team that we have, I wasn't too confident at the beginning of the season that we would be playing for a spot in (the WPIAL finals)," said Semega. "It was a great season."

Norwin (19-2) will face Mt. Lebanon in the WPIAL championship game next week.

Norwin 112 000 0—4 7 1Seneca Valley 000 000 0—0 5 1WP: Branden Munshower (7 IP) 7 strikeouts, 1 walk.

LP: Kyle Helisek (2+ IP) 0 strikeouts, 1 walk

Norwin (19-2): Jordan McCauley R, Jon Salmon 1B 2B R, Mark Woleslagle 2-1B HR R 3RBI, Paul Bugajski 1B, Matt Pozzuto 1B R, Matt Boehm RBI

Seneca Valley (13-7): Zach Duggan 1B, Kevan Smith 1B, Brett Spagnola 1B, Ken Walrond 2-1B