North Allegheny narrowly kept its perfect record on Monday night.

The Tigers welcomed Central Catholic to their home diamond and were almost rattled by a late surge from the visitors. However, four runs in the third inning and two runs in the fourth inning were enough for North Allegheny to prevail, 6-5, and keep its hold over the top spot in Class 6A Section 1.

“It was a big win,” coach Andrew Heck said. “I thought [pitcher] Nico [Varlotta] settled in after the first inning and threw really well for us. Nate [Surman] came in and did an unbelievable job closing the game for us. They’re a very good team. They put up three in the first inning, so we were playing behind early. We found a way to make things happen. A big four-run inning ignited us. I thought we came up with some key plays and hits in a timely fashion… Credit to the bottom of our lineup. They’ve gotten on base the last two games and scored some big runs for us.”

Senior third baseman Miles Pealer and senior center fielder Sean O'Donnell led the Tigers with two hits apiece, while senior second baseman Mason Smith earned two RBIs.

For Central Catholic, six batters accumulated one hit each, while sophomore shortstop Landon Greene batted in two runners.

North Allegheny senior pitcher Nico Varlotta was the winning ace, striking out seven batters in five innings. He did, however, allow six hits and five runs. It was teammate Nate Surman that closed the game, striking out three batters in two innings.

The two sides will meet again on Tuesday, at Central Catholic.

“We’re used to the schedule. I like the format,” Heck said. “I think it’s the way baseball should be played. For us, it’s a lot of the same from the pitching and defense. We need to pound the strike zone on the mound. We have to play defense behind the pitcher. Executing on offense is our biggest thing. We left some runs on the field today. I don’t think we executed the way we wanted to, so we need to do the little things.

“That’s going to be key for tomorrow’s game, more than anything else; if we can execute better than we did today, offensively, that would be huge.”