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Washington Township's Scarpa fires shutout

It was Mark Scarpa's most important start of the season. It also was his best. A senior righthander, Scarpa pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks as Washington Township clinched the Olympic Conference American Division title Monday with a 5-0 victory over Cherokee.

Washington Township's Mark Scarpa pitched seven shutout innings to help his team beat Cherokee 5-0 and win the Olympic American title. (Michael Bryant/Staff Photographer)
Washington Township's Mark Scarpa pitched seven shutout innings to help his team beat Cherokee 5-0 and win the Olympic American title. (Michael Bryant/Staff Photographer)Read more
    by By Phil Anastasia, Inquirer Staff Writer
    Published 

It was Mark Scarpa's most important start of the season. It also was his best.

A senior righthander, Scarpa pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks as Washington Township clinched the Olympic Conference American Division title Monday with a 5-0 victory over Cherokee.

Senior third baseman John Schoelkopf was 3 for 3 and senior shortstop Colin McAllister reached base three times and scored two runs for Washington Township (16-5, 8-2), the No. 6 team in The Inquirer Top 10.

Junior lefthander Brian Marconi went 51/3 innings for No. 7 Cherokee (12-8, 8-2).

"Scarpa was fantastic," Cherokee coach Marc Petragnani said. "He did a great job of mixing it up and keeping us off-balance."

"It was our biggest game of the year," Scarpa said. "I was focused right from the start. I wanted this win."

Scarpa also was motivated by his last outing, a 12-7 loss to Eastern on Tuesday. "This was a bounce-back game for me," he said.

The victory improved Scarpa's record to 5-2. It also was the 19th win of his career, a school record.

"He was focused from the first pitch," Washington Township coach Bill Alvaro Jr. said. "He knew what was at stake."

Scarpa, who plans to attend Mercer County College, showed great command of his curveball and maintained the velocity of his fastball for all seven innings.

Scarpa faced just 25 batters, four over the minimum. His biggest strikeout came with runners on first and third after an infield single and an error with two outs in the fourth.

"We chased some pitches but he set us up to chase," Petragnani said.

Schoelkopf singled and scored in the first and added an RBI single in the fifth. Sophomore rightfielder Dylan Baratti added a two-run single in the sixth.

"We want to win the Diamond [Classic] again and make a deep playoff run," Scarpa said. "But the first thing was winning the division. This was huge for us."

Cherokee 000 000 0 - 0 2 2

Wash. Twp. 200 012 x - 5 10 2

WP: Mark Scarpa. LP: Brian Marconi.

ONLINE EXTRA

See and hear from Washington Township's Mark Scarpa.

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