It was the first time Hollidaysburg's Dominic Viduya got to pitch at Peoples Natural Gas Field, the home of the Altoona Curve.
But for one day on Saturday, his stuff was big league-caliber material.
Viduya tossed a perfect game to propel Hollidaysburg to the championship of the Altoona Curve Classic as the Golden Tigers defeated Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic, 10-0, in five innings.
"It feels amazing," Viduya said. "I have never felt anything like this before."
Bishop Guilfoyle's T.J. Krol hit a grounder back to the mound for the final out. On the play, Viduya hesitated to throw the ball to first.
"It kind of hit me right as I was about to throw it to first base," Viduya said. "This was my first-ever perfect game."
The junior southpaw struck out seven and forced seven popouts.
"It was a great performance," Golden Tiger manager Jon Szynal said. "It's one of the best pitching performances I have seen since I have been in Hollidaysburg. I think it's our first perfect game at Hollidaysburg. We got some timely hitting for him, and when he gets in the groove out there, he's tough. He got in his groove and wanted the ball out there. He was looking forward to it. He pitched an excellent ballgame."
Viduya had at least one strikeout in every inning, and he threw 43 strikes out of 57 total pitches. Viduya's dominance also showed in the fact that he only threw 14 balls the entire game.
"He was throwing strikes," Marauder coach Bill Wolf said. "When a kid goes out there and does that to you, there is not a lot you can do about it.
The only time that Viduya came close to losing the perfect game was when he had an eight-pitch at bat with Bishop Guilfoyle's Jextin Pugh in the fourth inning. Viduya fell behind, 2-1, and Pugh fouled off four consecutive pitches. Viduya then threw another ball before getting the Marauder to pop out to third base.
"I was hoping so," Pugh said of his chances of breaking up the perfect game. "You foul off 15 pitches, you just want to get the one to hit, but it didn't work out that way."
Viduya was familiar with Pugh.
"I have pitched to Jextin a couple times," Viduya added. "I just wanted to throw strikes to hopefully keep it alive, and I just got through it."
The Golden Tigers scored two runs in the second inning, but busted it open in the fourth inning, scoring seven runs.
"We left a bunch of guys on in the first couple of innings," Szynal said. "I think our guys just settled down a little bit and got some better pitches to drive."
Andy Crum had a two-run single, and Ian Ford, Jordan Baum and Reid Miller each knocked in runs in the fourth.
Ford, Crum and Baum all finished with two RBIs.
The Golden Tigers will play in the champinoship game at 1 p.m. this afternoon.
"It's the next game on our schedule," Szynal said. "We are going to come and prepare like we do everyday."
HOLLIDAYSBURG (10): Claar cf 312, Burger 3b 211, Viduya p 000, Hileman dh 200, Storm 2b 321, Crum rf 402, Baum ss 323, Gallagher lf 410, Ford 1b 212, MIller c 201, Urban 020. Totals -25-10-12 .
BISHOP GUILFOYLE (0): Irwin 2b rf 200, Keller ss 200, Pugh 1b 200, Wolfe p 3b 000, Sweeney c 200, Johnson dh 3b 200, Krol 200, Stewart 100, Adams lf p lf 100, Cursio 100. Totals - 15-0-0.
SCORE BY INNINGS
Hollidaysburg020 710x x-10 12 0
Bishop Guilfoyle000 00x x-0 0 0
2B-Crum. RBI-Claar, Hileman, Crum 2, Baum 2, Ford 2, Miller. WP-Viduya. LP-Wolfe. SO-Viduya 7. BB-Wolfe 2, Adams 2.
Records: Hollidaysburg (3-3); Bishop Guilfoyle (6-2).
