Photo for the Mirror by Chuck Meyers Central Mountain starting pitcher Aidan Major loses his hat while throwing a pitch at PNG Field Tuesday morning.

In recent seasons, Hollidaysburg and Central Mountain have engaged in somesuspenseful, barnburner District 6 Class 5A baseball championship games that were decided by walkoff hits.

But Tuesday’s title game between the two teams at Peoples Natural Gas Field didn’t follow suit.

Senior right-hander Aidan Major pitched a one-hit shutout, and Hollidaysburg mistakes provided top-seeded Central Mountain with a bevy of scoring opportunities, as the Wildcats won their third straight District 6 Class 5A championship via a 10-0, five-inning mercy-rule verdict.

Major reached the high 80s on the radar gun while striking out seven batters, walking three and allowing only Zach Miller’s fourth-inning single to right-center field.

“We knew that we would be in for a tough battle, and he set the tone in the game,” Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said of Major, who threw 75 pitches. “When you have a pitcher who throws as well as he does, it puts a lot of pressure on you to play a perfect game.

“Once they got a couple of runs, he kind of settled in,” added Szynal, whose second-seeded Golden Tigers finished the season with a 12-7 record. “He was good the whole way through, and his pitching kind of dictated the game.”

Major said that he used a variety of pitches in his superb performance.

“I had a little bit of everything working,” Major said. “My fast ball was good, and I was able to locate it well, and I had a slider and change-up to throw in any count.”

Central Mountain coach Michael Kramer said that Major’s presence on the mound gives the Wildcats a boost.

“He was making all his pitches, and he did extremely well today,” Kramer said. “We’re excited when Aidan steps on the mound. Good things happen for us.”

All of Central Mountain’s 10 runs were unearned against four Hollidaysburg pitchers. The Wildcats had just six hits, but benefited from eight walks, three Hollidaysburg errors, two passed balls, and a wild pitch.

Central Mountain (16-5) opened the scoring in the first inning with a run without the benefit of a hit against Hollidaysburg starting pitcher Caleb Gampe.

Major’s sacrifice fly scored Kaden Falls after Falls walked and moved all the way to third on a passed ball.

Central Mountain tacked on two more runs in the second inning when a passed ball allowed Cru Stover – who had reached on a leadoff single – to score, and an RBI single by Falls knocked home Blade Myers, who had reached on an error and moved to third on the passed ball.

Central Mountain expanded the lead to 7-0 with four runs in the fourth inning. The Wildcats sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, benefiting from four walks, an error, and a hit batsman.

The Wildcats sewed up the victory with three runs in the fifth to enforce the 10-run mercy rule. Falls and Peyton Johnson walked against the third Tigers’ pitcher of the game, Bryce Martellacci, and both scored on a Hollidaysburg error. Courtesy runner Connor Foltz eventually scored on the back end of a double steal to end the game.

Central Mountain – which meets the winner of today’s WPIAL matchup between West Allegheny and Peters Township in the first round of the PIAA playoffs next Monday – stole six bases in Tuesday’s championship game.

Szynal was quick to give his players credit for their overall effort over the course of the season.

“It was tough for us to get anything going offensively today, but we had a really good season,” said Szynal, who wrapped up his 22ndseason as the Golden Tigers’ coach. “We won our (Central Penn) league championship, and we had a stretch at the end of the season where we won five games in seven days – the first time that we’ve done that since I’ve been coaching here.

“We had a good senior group this season, and a very athletic group of very coachable kids who worked real hard.”

HOLLIDAYSBURG (0): Barton lf-cf 200, E. Stevenson lf 000, Martellacci cf-p 200, Gampe p-dh 200, Kensinger p 000, Perry 1b 200, Miller 2b 201, Faber rf 200, Estep c 000, Bukosky cr-ss 000, Jandora 3b 200. Totals – 14-0-1.

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (10): Falls 2b 131, Johnson ss 211, Major p 200, Foltz cr 020, C. Probst c 301, Schlesinger cr 000, Fravel cr 000, McCloskey rf 302, A. Probst ph 000, Stover 3b-dh 211, Johnson 1b 300, Myers lf 320, Swinehart cf 210. Totals – 21-10-6.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Hollidaysburg 000 00X X–0-1-3

Central Mountain 120 43X X–10-6-2

E–Barton, Perry, Jandora, Major, Johnson. 2B–McCloskey. RBI–Major 2, Falls, C. Probst, McCloskey, Stover. SF–Major. SB–Faber, Johnson 2, Myers, Falls, Fravel, Foltz. HBP–C. Probst (by Kensinger). LOB–Central Mountain 8, Hollidaysburg 4.

PITCHING

Hollidaysburg: Gampe (L) 3 1/4IP, 4H, 5R, 0ER, 4BB, 4SO; Kensinger 1/3IP, 1H, 2R, 0ER, 2BB, 1SO; Martellacci 1+IP, 0H, 2R, 0ER, 2BB, 3SO; Shale 3 batters, 1H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 0SO.

CENTRAL MOUNTAIN: Major (W) 5IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 7SO.

WP–Gampe. PB–Estep 2.

Umpires: Tom Culp (plate); Nick Shope (first base); Nate Shope (second base); Jim Rivello (third base).

Time of game: Two hours.