Hollidaysburg, which entered this year’s three-team District 4-6 Class 5A playoff field as the bracket’s second-seeded team, will meet top-seeded Central Mountain in the championship game for the sixth consecutive season next Tuesday afternoon at Bald Eagle Area High School’s Doc Etters Memorial Baseball Field.

Hollidaysburg punched its ticket to the championship game by mercy-ruling third-seeded Shikellamy, 12-0, in five innings in a semifinal-round playoff game contested at the Hollidaysburg Area High School baseball field.

The Golden Tigers (18-2) pitched and hit very well in Tuesday’s landslide victory and benefited from seven errors by Shikellamy, which finished the season with an 8-10 record.

“It’s a great feeling,” Hollidaysburg coach Jon Szynal said of the Golden Tigers’ return to the district championship game. “This team has worked really hard to get to this point. They’ve been taking care of business in games, and working hard in practice, and as their coach, that’s all that I can ask.”

Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Hollidaysburg starter Vince Boland (center) is greeted by catcher Braden Hatch after retiring the side.

Junior right-hander Vince Boland pitched another gem Tuesday for Hollidaysburg, working five shutout innings, allowing only one hit, striking out 11 batters and walking only three.

“He’s been our number one pitcher for a while,” Szynal said. “He’s always going to compete, and he’s always going to be around the strike zone. He stayed out of the big inning today, and he has three different pitches that he can throw for strikes.”

Hollidaysburg, which collected 11 hits, brought its bats to the ballpark again Tuesday.

Shortstop Mason Mierley cracked three singles and scored three runs, center fielder Nate Phillips had two hits and drove in three runs, and senior third baseman Donald Miller — who signed with Allegheny College in Meadville on Monday to play college baseball next year — hit a walk-off grand slam to end the game.

“I thought that we hit the ball well today,” Szynal said. “Even some of our outs were hit very hard. As coaches, this is what we try to teach the players to do, and they did a real nice job of it today.”

Hollidaysburg built an early 5-0 lead by scoring two unearned runs in the first inning and adding three more runs in the second inning.

A two-run single by Phillips scored Josh Banks and Mierley in the first inning, and catcher Braden Hatch’s RBI double highlighted the Hollidaysburg second inning, in which the Tigers benefited from three walks and two Shikellamy errors.

First baseman Cole Hartman, Phillips and left fielder Mack Layton each had RBI singles in the fourth inning for Hollidaysburg, and Miller’s slam ended the game in the fifth after Mierley had singled, Hartman had reached on an error, and designated hitter Tanner Rossman was hit by a pitch.

The Shikellamy players were dedicating their game to their head coach last season, Rich Aurand, who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 49. The Braves’ head coach this season, Tony Culp, tipped his cap to Hollidaysburg.

“That’s a very good all-around baseball team over there,” Culp said of the Golden Tigers. “We all tried to dedicate this game to Coach Aurand, and our kids went out and played with heart today, but that team (Hollidaysburg) was better.”

The Golden Tigers lost to Central Mountain, 9-5, in last season’s district championship game, after Hollidaysburg defeated Central Mountain in the 2024 district title game en route to reaching the state championship game.

“They have such a good program, and we know that it will be a battle,” Szynal said of Central Mountain, which currently sports a 13-4 season record. “We’re now in the (Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference), so we no longer play Central Mountain during the regular season.

“But we always seem to match up against them in the playoffs,” Szynal added. “They beat us last year, and we’re looking forward to playing them again next week.”

SHIKELLAMY (0): Yarger c 100, Campbell cr 000, Ziegler 2b-p 200, Ulrich 2b 000, Kurtz ss 201, Mull lf 200, Erb 3b 200, Walter p-1b 100, Barner c 000, C. Treas cf 100, W. Treas 1b 000, Phillips dh 100, O’Connor rf 100. Totals – 13-0-1.

HOLLIDAYSBURG (12): Banks rf 321, Mierley ss 433, McGough 2b 300, Hartman 1b 421, Boland p 000, Rossman dh 310, Phillips cf 312, Miller 3b 412, Layton cf 211, Hatch c 301, Detrick cr 010. Totals – 29-12-11.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Shikellamy 000 00X X– 0 1 7

Hollidaysburg 230 34X X–12 11 7

E–Kurtz 2, Yarger, Mull, Erb, Walter, O’Connor. 2B–Kurtz, Miller, Hatch. HR–Miller. RBI–Miller 4, Phillips 3, Hartman 2, Layton, Hatch. SB–Detrick, Banks, Mierley. HBP–Walter (by Boland); Ziegler (by Boland); Rossman (by Ziegler). LOB–Hollidaysburg 8, Shikellamy 5.

PITCHING

Shikellamy: Walter (L) 2+IP, 5H, 5R, 3ER, 1BB, 3SO, (59 pitches); Ziegler 2 2/3IP, 6H, 7R, 1ER, 0BB, 2SO (55 pitches).

Hollidaysburg: Boland (W) 5IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 11SO (77 pitches).

Records: Shikellamy (8-10); Hollidaysburg (18-2).

Umpires: Derrick Soellner (plate); Jim Cushion (1b); Jason Oakes (2b); Matt Cursio (3b).