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EBENSBURG -- Much of the Central Cambria baseball team wasn't even in elementary school yet the last time the Red Devils won a playoff game.
Fast forward to Friday night when they scored eight runs in the third inning and never looked back as the No. 4 seed Central Cambria blanked No. 5 River Valley, 10-0, in six innings at the Red Devilplex.
It's their first postseason win since 2011 and the first ever playoff game in the multisport complex.
"That was a huge moment for us," Central Cambria coach Dan Beyer said of the experience. "Our pitcher Owen Harringer has been amazing this entire year. We've been riding pitching; we've been riding defense. That offensive explosion was what needed, when we needed it."
Harringer and Alex Wingard combined on a no-hitter for the Red Devils with Harringer going five innings and walking just one and Wingard throwing the last frame.
The damage started with an RBI single from Logan Black to help break the ice for the Red Devils. Brayden Blasko later added a two-run single of his own to help put his squad up 5-0.
Later in the frame it was Connor Serenko adding fielder's choice.
Jake Russell and Ben Howard added their own hits to help cap off the outburst for the Devils.
"That was our Achillies heel so to speak," River Valley coach Ben Furman said. "We get into that funk, walk a couple of guys, (you) can't have that especially against a good hitting like this one."
Moving to the fifth it was Serenko adding a single scoring Jack Washko to put the home team up 9-0. Blasko added a walk off sacrifice fly scoring Black to activate the mercy rule decision.
Harringer struck out four.
"He's a lefty with just amazing composure," Beyer said. "He racks up strikeouts, he moves the ball, he has good speed, and he was dominate today for us like he has been this entire year for us."
Furman saluted the Panthers mound opponents
"We only faced one lefty all year round," Furman said, "He did a great job, he threw hard, we had trouble picking up the ball and getting hits."
Beyer was appreciative of the community support as they ended their decade-plus losing skid in the playoffs.
"It was an amazing community effort," he said. "We had the fire trucks here, we had the police department here, everybody came out in a monsoon. That was really a special moment for this school. We were in dire need of baseball to have something like that happen in front of the community."
The Red Devils' reward is a trip to top-seeded Forest Hills on Thursday at 4 p.m.
RIVER VALLEY (0): Vreslovic cf 200, Yanits 2b-ss 300, Vadala ss-p-ss 200, Riggle c-p 300, Burkhardt lf 200, Smith 3b 200, Z. Doak dh 200, Steeves p 000, Stuchal rf-c 100, Dinger rf 100, McDivitt 1b 100. Totals -- 21-0-0.
CENTRAL CAMBRIA (10): Snyder ss 311, Black 2b 321, Iacono cf 210, Coposky 1b 322, Blasko c 301, Muldoon cr 010, Russell dh 311, Howard rf 311, Washko lf 201, Serenko 3b 322. Totals -- 25-10-10.
SCORE BY INNINGS
River Valley 000 000 X -- 0 0 1
Central Cambria 008 002 X -- 10 10 0
E - Smith. 2B - Serenko. 3B - Washko. RBI - Black, Coposky , Blasko 3, Serenko 2, Russell.
PITCHING COMPARISON
RIVER VALLEY: Steeves (L), 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO; Vadala 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER 2 BB, 0 SO, Riggle 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO.
CENTRAL CAMBRIA: Harringer (W), 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO; Wingard 1 IP 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER 1 BB, 4 SO.
Record: River Valley (12-9); Central Cambria (13-7).