WINDBER — The Central Cambria Red Devils made too many mistakes in the field against the top-seeded Richland Rams, falling 10-4 in the District 6 Class 3A quarterfinals at Windber Sports Complex on Monday.

The Red Devils surrendered eight errors in the field, and the Rams took advantage of those run-scoring opportunities. Central Cambria competed well at the plate, but the hole was dug too deep to climb out of.

“One thing that we did well was that we didn’t give up,” Central Cambria coach Dan Beyer stated. “Eight errors, pitchers threw well, and the hitters had good approaches. (Richland’s Ryan) Ozog is one of the best pitchers in the area, and we knocked him out early, which was our plan.”

Richland moves on to face Philipsburg-Osceola in the semifinals. The winner of that game will face the winner of Tyrone and Bald Eagle Area for the District 6 championship.

From the start of the game, Richland applied plenty of pressure to Central Cambria. In the first inning, the Rams attempted to steal second, stopped to try to get into a rundown, but the throw went into center field, allowing Caden Robertson to score.

Then in the second, the Rams didn’t slow down. Jacob Regan crushed a run-scoring double, and Dom Shank brought him in on a groundout.

The Red Devils started to get moving offensively, getting the first two runners on and knocking Richland’s starter out of the game. That brought in Maddox Vojtko to pitch, and he got two fly-outs to escape the jam.

From there, Richland’s offense exploded way in front. Regan drove in a run on a groundout, Vojtko belted a run-scoring double, and Ozog hit an RBI triple to bring in three runs, while two costly errors plated another two.

“That’s what we talked about, not having selfish plate appearances when we had runners in scoring position,” Richland coach Josh Day said. “Putting the ball in play and trying to make them do something with it allowed us to generate runs. They may have had a few mistakes, but I think it’s because we kept putting pressure on them by putting the ball in play.”

That big inning gave the Rams an 8-0 lead, and Coach Beyer delivered a motivational pep-talk.

“I grabbed them and told them we can do one of two things,” Beyer said. “We can give up or we can focus pitch-by-pitch, have good approaches at the plate and drive the ball when it’s in the zone.”

Following that message, the Red Devils started to click. Ben Howard clubbed a run-scoring double to the left-field fence, and Derek McConnell drove in another on a groundout. Howard scored on an error, and then Jacob Fisher hit a run-scoring single, cutting the Rams’ lead in half.

It wasn’t enough as Richland plated another two runs in the sixth. Dylan Wyandt came out and struck three batters out, eliminating Central Cambria from the playoffs.

“We’ve got to learn from it, and that’s what we’ll do,” Beyer stated. “We will come back stronger than ever next year.”

CENTRAL CAMBRIA (4): Kirsch c 310, Brouse 1b-p 211, Murowski pr 000, Howard rf 211 rf, Pittsinger dh 300, Williams 2b 000, Muldoon 3b 000, McConnell lf 400, Barra p-ss-2b 410, Dawson 3b-1b 301, Fisher cf 301, Shaffer ss-2b-ss 300. Totals – 27-4-4

RICHLAND (10): Shank c 300, Schmidt pr 010, Vojtko 3b-p-3b 311, Robertson 1b-rf 431, Ozog p-1b 423, Ivock pr-lf 100, Urbanek 2b 200, Yoder dh 400, Korenoski ss 000, Wyandt rf-lf-p 412, Feichtel 311 lf-3b, Regan cf 311. Totals – 30-10-9

SCORE BY INNINGS

Central Cambria 000 040 0– 4 4 4

Richland 125 002 0–10 9 3

E–Kirsch, Dawson, McConnell, Urbanek, Barra 2, Murowski, Shaffer; Korenski, Ozog, Urbanek. 2B–Howard; Regan, Vojtko, Robertson, Ozog. 3B–Feichtel, Ozog. RBI–Howard, McConnell, Fisher, Regan 2, Shank, Vojtko, Ozog, Wyandt. WP–Vojtko. LP–Barra. SO–Brouse 3, Ozog 3, Vojtko 2, Wyandt. BB–Barra 3, Ozog 4, Vojtko 1.

Records: Central Cambria (10-12); Richland (15-5).