Serra familiar with Camp Hill
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Article RatingBrian Dzurenda wasn’t spending time with his family June 13 of last year.
No, the Serra Catholic High School baseball coach was over two hours from his home in McKeesport watching the PIAA finals.
More specifically, Dzurenda was focused on the PIAA Class A showdown between Carmichaels and Camp Hill.
While it was impossible for Dzurenda to know his Eagles would face Camp Hill exactly one year later, the same video tape of that game that helped his squad pound Carmichaels in the District 7 (WPIAL) championship game is helping him this week.
“I know they’re well-coached and very deep,” Dzurenda said of Camp Hill (22-3). “They’re a great team but we like to think we’re a great team as well. It should be a good game.”
The teams collide in the PIAA Class A final at 1 p.m. Friday at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona.
While they’re from separate ends of the state, these two teams are rather similar in one way.
Just like the 2008 version of Camp Hill, Serra Catholic (23-2) brings nearly all sophomores and juniors to Altoona.
Camp Hill boasted one senior on the team that blanked Carmichaels, 2-0.
“Last year all these kids were sophomores and we made it to the (state semifinals),” Dzurenda said. “You never can anticipate getting back to where we were but we thought we had a legitimate chance of making it to the state final both this year and next.”
That said, wouldn’t it be easy for the Serra Catholic players to take a more reserved approach banking on the chance that they’ll be back next year?
Dzurenda would have none of that.
“I don’t think at this point I have to motivate them one bit,” Dzurenda said. “We’ll come to play the game. This group of kids are so relaxed and have played so many games together ... from Little League they’ve won every championship imaginable.
“If anything, we’ll keep things on an even keel and enjoy the moment.”
At the end of May, Serra Catholic’s district final against Carmichaels was postponed to a mere two days before state play began. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to coaches from the four teams playing that day and asked what was more important, winning a WPIAL title or winning a PIAA title?
The reasoning was, a team’s No. 1 pitcher could only throw in one of those games due to the PIAA pitching restrictions. If said No. 1 threw into the fifth inning Friday, he would be unavailable Monday.
“I had at least 15 phone calls saying to go after the WPIAL championship,” Dzurenda said. “But there’s a bigger prize out there than the WPIAL championship. People around here don’t understand that. The WPIAL title is special because there’s 30 teams (in the district) and it’s a great tournament but I think the state tournament is the big show.”
That’s coming from a Serra Catholic graduate who was born in an area of the state that more often than not puts the WPIAL championships for every sport on a pedestal above all else.
Despite the outcry to win the WPIAL final at all costs, Dzurenda went with his ace, Oliver Girman, not to satisfy the masses but because he thought it was the right move.
“I was fairly certain we’d see Homer-Center (in the first round of states) and we already played them during the season,” said Dzurenda, whose team did indeed beat Homer-Center in Round 1. “We were familiar with them and knew what they had. We were confident we could beat them with our other pitchers. It was a risk but it paid off.”
As it is almost every year, Friday’s outcome will likely hinge on which team can scratch across a run.
Both Girman and Camp Hill right-hander Matt Spiegel come in with outstanding numbers (see related capsule) so it’s unlikely the scoreboard will get much of a workout.
Spiegel has the edge in experience at this level but as Camp Hill well knows, it’s not always the most senior-laden team that raises the trophy.
Still, to beat Camp Hill, Serra Catholic, which is playing in its first state baseball final, must figure out a way to beat a pitcher who has never lost a postseason game at the varsity level.
“I don’t think (Spiegel is) an overpowering pitcher but more of a finesse pitcher who throws his curveball for strikes,” Dzurenda said. “That’s the name of the game in high school baseball. If you throw that off speed pitch for strikes, you’re tough to beat.”
