SHALER - The first pitch was at 4:01 p.m. The Seneca Valley baseball team scored its first run at 4:02.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, they didn't get their first hit until 5:28.

In the time between, Peters Township more than took control of the game on the way to a 9-5 win in the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at Matulevic Field at Shaler High School Saturday.

"They're a good hitting team," said Seneca Valley coach Eric Semega. "They put the ball in play, and we didn't make plays.

"I'm not going to take anything away from them," Semega added, pointing toward several Peters Township players.

The Indians (15-6), with a predominately left-handed batting order, battered Seneca Valley left-hander Scott Carney.

Aaron Janusey hit a three-run home run over the right field fence in the bottom of the first inning and Peters Township tacked on three more runs off Carney in the bottom of the second to chase him after only 1

innings of work.

Carney surrendered six runs on five hits in one of his shortest outings of the season.

"I feel we have a chance with anyone on the mound," Semega said. "We didn't put enough pressure on them."

The early run support allowed Peters Township starter Jason Conley to calm down after he gave up a run in the first inning without surrendering a hit.

Seneca Valley (18-4) leadoff hitter Andrew Wilmoth reached on an errant throw from second that went into the Raiders' dugout.

Wilmoth moved to third on a groundout and then scored on a wild pitch for a very unearned run.

It didn't affect Conley, who had a no-hitter through four innings. He struck out eight and didn't walk a batter, although he did hit two batters to lead off the fifth and sixth innings.

"Getting that early lead was one of the reasons we stayed with him," said Peters Township coach Joe Maize. "We wanted to get five or six innings out of him."

Maize got just what he wanted from Conley before Jim Gallagher came in to get out of a seventh-inning jam.

After Peters Township had built an 8-1 lead, Seneca Valley scored three runs in the fifth inning off of Conley, but the sophomore got out of that inning.

He ran into trouble again in the seventh, giving up two straight singles after a throwing error put Ryan Page on base to lead off the inning.

The Raiders, though, managed just one run in the inning as Gallagher deftly got out of a bases-loaded jam thanks to a base-running blunder.

"To be honest, we made mental errors that we didn't make all season," Semega said. "One mistake didn't lose us the game, but when you accumulated all of them, that did.

"We dug ourselves too big of a hole to dig out of against a good team."

Peters Township had a hard time burying Seneca Valley.

The Indians left 12 runners on base in six innings, including the bases loaded in the fourth. They had the bases loaded in the third with one out, but hit into an inning-ending double play.

"We kept telling the kids, 'We have to bury them. We have to put a stake into their heart,'" Maize said. "But we weren't able to do it. We couldn't get that one, extra hit to tack on more runs."

Peters Township will play North Allegheny at 4 p.m. today at Pullman Park.

Seneca Valley 100 030 1 - 5 6 2

Peters Twp 330 021 x - 9 11 3

WP:

Jason Conley (6 IP) 8 strikeouts, 0 walks.

LP:

Scott Carney (1

IP) 1 strikeout, 2 walks

Seneca Valley (18-4):

Andrew Wilmoth 2B, 1B, 2-RBI; Joe Sklarsky 1B, 2-RBI; Dan Reale 1B, SB; John Sklarsky 2-1B, RBI

Peters Township (15-6):

Ryan Maize 1B, 3-R; Sean Karpen 1B, RBI; Jim Gallagher 2-1B, RBI; Aaron Janusey HR, 1B, 3-RBI; Anthony Rossi 1B, RBI; Eric Rich 2-1B