WASHINGTON, Pa. — Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic sophomore pitcher Ryan Feczko was well aware of the challenge in front of him.

Providing Serra Catholic with any easy opportunities would likely mean being pounded into the ground during the WPIAL Class 2A baseball championship game Tuesday night at Wild Things Park.

Limit the offensively-potent Eagles — who averaged 11.63 runs per contest entering the game — and maybe the Trojans could pull the upset.

“I had to pitch backwards a lot,” Feczko said. “Throw off-speed first and mix in some fastballs around. We went in there and threw strikes and tried not to walk everyone because they have dangerous hitters. I want to stay ahead and work ahead.”

Feczko did his part, only issuing one walk and striking out six during a six inning, 96-pitch performance to help lead the Trojans score a 5-2 win over the top-seeded Eagles to win their first WPIAL crown since 2007 and fourth in school history.

“What Ryan Feczko did was artwork to me,” North Catholic coach John Haggerty said. “It was beautiful. I've seen it all year. He doesn't get down. Occasionally, he'll get hit around. We may give up one or two runs with him. But he's able to reset himself and refocus.”

Changing things up was necessary for Feczko early. An early error put North Catholic (18-5) behind. Eagles' infielder Patrick Brennan reached on a one-out error in the second. He was then singled in by Andrew Cornetto.

“We had to close the door at some point,” Feczko said. “When they got that first one, no more is going in.”

Serra (21-2) was then undone by its wildness in the bottom of the frame. Daniel Lynch and Feczko drew two-out walks off Eagles starting pitcher Nate Piontka.

Jack Cassidy and Luc Madonna followed with RBI singles that put North Catholic ahead 2-1. The Eagles ended up issuing seven free passes.

“They have two extremely hard throwers,” Haggerty said. “We've seen extremely hard pitchers. Multiple 6A, 5A and 4A teams. We weren't afraid of speed at all and it played right into our wheelhouse.”

Joe Alampi gave Feczko some breathing room, singling in Daniel Lynch in the fifth inning to stretch the lead to 3-1. The Trojans added their final two runs with patience.

Robby Randolph drew a walk to open the inning and moved to second base when Adam Cruttenden reached on an error. Nate Saar drew another walk to load the bases. One batter later, Feczko drew an RBI walk. Jack Cassidy then hit into a fielder's choice that put North Catholic ahead 5-1.

The Eagles cut the lead to 5-2 when Piontka drove in Ben Bowen on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. North Catholic never backed down from the juggernaut.

Feczko had the right mix to help the school gain a ground.

“We didn't change our style for anybody,” Madonna said. “He's been doing that all year for us and we felt confident in him.”

CWNC 002 012 0 — 5 7 1

Serra Catholic 010 001 0 — 2 5 3

W: Ryan Feczko 6IP (6K, 1BB). L: Nate Piontka 4.2IP (6K, 5BB). SV: Joe Alampi 1IP (0K, 0BB)

CWNC (18-5): Luc Madonna 2-1B RBI, Joseph Jordano 1B, Jack Cassidy 1B RBI, Robby Randolph 2B, Daniel Lynch 1B, Joe Alampi 1B RBI

Serra Catholic (21-2): Andrew Cornetto 1B RBI, Zack Bowen 1B, Ben Bowen 1B, Mark Black 1B, Nate Piontka RBI, Alex Glumac 1B

Monday: CWNC in PIAA 2A playoffs