HANOVER - Holy Redeemer starting pitcher Tony Molitoris found a comfort zone early in Monday's PIAA Class 3A first round contest against Tamaqua.

And the Royals' senior hurler never got out of it.Molitoris needed just 60 pitches to dispatch the Blue Raiders and guide Holy Redeemer to a 5-0 win and a berth in the quarterfinals."He was able to throw his pitches for strikes, and that was big," Tamaqua head coach Jeff Reading said. "He hit spots and was able to mix speeds up … and kept our guys off balance."Molitoris allowed just two hits and no walks while retiring the side in order in each of the final five innings for the District 2 champion Royals (13-5).The efficient outing produced just one strikeout, as Molitoris needed just 19 pitches to get through the final three innings."He's a three-year starter for us," Holy Redeemer head coach Chris Ritsick said of Molitoris. "You can only coach so much. The experience the past two years is invaluable. It's something you can't teach."He's not a dominant, over-powering pitcher. He pitches to contact. He hits his spots. And he relies on his defense. He knows he has a nice defense behind him, and he pounds the zone, he throws strikes and he keeps them on their toes, and they do the job for him."The Royals gave Molitoris run support early.Mikalus Bozentka ripped an RBI double just past a diving Daylon Barron in center field in the bottom of the second inning to put Holy Redeemer up 1-0. An RBI single from Tim Cavanaugh made it 2-0, and a fielder's choice from Tom Borum put the Royals up 3-0 after the second.Bozentka, the No. 8 hitter, did it again in the third inning, this time with two outs, slamming another RBI double to make it 4-0. Bozentka scored on an error to put the Royals ahead 5-0 after the third inning."He hurt us," Reading said of Bozentka.In addition to Bozentka, Cavanaugh, Molitoris and Cade Flanley also finished with two hits for Holy Redeemer.Tamaqua's two hits off Molitoris came early.Casey Rother had a two-out single in the first that was erased when Molitoris handled a come-backer and flipped to first to end the inning.Josh Inama started the second inning with a leadoff single, and advanced to second base when Thad Zuber dropped down a bunt. But Molitoris retired the next two batters to end the inning and the threat."The kid threw a great game," said Reading. "He was around the plate. Our guys want to come up and be aggressive and attack the ball, that's been our style. He was there. He mixed his pitches well, and kept them off balance."We weren't able to square-up like they were. We had some hard hit balls, but they were right at them. Their third baseman (Flanley) made two or three great plays. And you don't know; something gets by him, it could start something."A District 11 championship and a 17-7 season in hand, Reading couldn't have been prouder of what the Blue Raiders accomplished in 2017, success he hopes carries over into next year."I told them at the beginning of the year, this is your team. Write your story. Last year's team wrote theirs," he said. "I looked at them and said, you're district champions. You are 2017 AAA District 11 champions. Nobody can take that away from you. That's an accomplishment in itself. We came together as a team, and played well."We got a taste of it, and it's great for our seniors, for the program, to go out on a note like this. With that, it was great for the younger kids to get a taste of it, and to have a hunger next year for it, to get back. It's disappointing to lose. But to look at what they did accomplish; we're here, we've made it here. It didn't turn out so well. Holy Redeemer was the better team today, and that's baseball."NICE TOUCH … Throughout the season, Tamaqua players and coaches honored former head coach Frank Zlock, who passed away in December. "As a tribute to him, to memorialize him and what he did for the program, we had "FZ" put on our hats this year, and also the helmets," Reading said.Tamaqua 000 000 0 - 0 2 2Holy Redeemer 032 000 x - 5 10 0Zuber, Boyle (4) and Rother; Molitoris and Borum. W - Molitoris. L - Zuber.