Baseball season came to a screeching halt for the Mars Area baseball team.
The Fighting Planets (12-8) made a first-round exit from the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs following a 2-0 loss against Blackhawk. Cougars’ star pitcher Brendan McKay baffled Mars batters by tossing a one-hit, 16-strikeout gem.
Senior Dave Bender managed to make contact off McKay for the Planets’ lone hit. He also pitched a pretty good game by striking out 13 Blackhawk batters.
Making its first state tournament appearance since 2008, Mars made easy work of District 9 champion Elk County Catholic Tuesday at Dubois Area High School.
The Planets, the runner-up in the WPIAL tournament, won 5-0 to move into the quarterfinals, where they’ll face District 3 third-place finisher Eastern Lebanon County High School Friday at 9:30 a.m. at Hershey Racquet Club.
The last time the Mars boys tennis team played in a WPIAL final, people were still concerned about Y2K.
The Planets hadn’t played for a WPIAL boys tennis team title since 1999 until last Thursday, when Mars lost to Sewickley Academy, 4-1.
If the current group of Planets stays together, it likely won’t be the last time Mars makes the final over the next few years.
When Josh Raymundo and Aaron Gruber travel to Hershey later in May, it could be the first of many trips for the duo.
The Mars freshmen won all three of their matches Monday before losing in the final Tuesday at the WPIAL Class AA doubles championship at North Allegheny.
The pair won their both of their first two matches 10-2 against Brownsville’s Ryan Hartz and Nic Calvaresi and Thomas Jefferson’s Sumanya Gupta and Ritwik Gupta.
Ryan Riordan's feature on Mars' Josh Raymundo:
"Derek Chen winning the WPIAL Class AA singles title was a bittersweet moment for Josh Raymundo.
On one hand, Raymundo, a Valencia resident, is friends with Chen and was happy to see him win.
But on the other hand, Raymundo, a Mars Area High School freshman, wondered what could have been."
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