CHIPPEWA TWP — Ty Reginelli smashed a rocket to right field in the top of the fifth inning that gave his Mars baseball teammates some hope.

What turned out to be a three-run triple cut Central Valley's lead to one run Tuesday afternoon at Chippewa Park.

“I thought we had a chance when Ty hit that shot in the gap,” Zarek Simkovich said. “I had a feeling we were going to come back and win. We came back in a couple of games before and I thought it was going to be one of those games.”

It ended up being a different kind of game for the Planets.

Mars made five errors, including four in the two innings the Warriors plated seven runs, in a 7-3 loss during the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs.

“Normally that's not our thing,” Planets coach Andy Bednar said. “We play pretty good defense. Today, that didn't happen. In a playoff game, when you do that it's awfully tough to recover.”

The Planets have lost nine consecutive playoff games, a streak that extends back to the 1998 season.

It was the first playoff win for Central Valley, which was formed in 2010 when Monaca and Center High Schools were consolidated into one district.

The eighth-seeded Warriors (14-5) were aggressive on the basepaths and took advantage of Mars' miscues in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead.

Matt Melchiorre drew a lead-off walk off Mars starting pitcher Matt Derouin.

One batter later, Scott Hughes singled and both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch.

Dan Urtz followed with a fly ball that was dropped by Mars right fielder Cam Marshall, allowing Melchiorre and Hughes to score.

Dallas Jamery followed with an RBI single and Luke Shively reached on an error by Planets second baseman Anthony Michalski.

An attempted pick-off of Shively ended with a throwing error that put the Warriors ahead 4-0.

“Our offense hasn't been clicking like we thought it would late in the season,” Central Valley coach Ray Antonelli said. “We want to do different things to get runs on the board.”

Mars (10-9) loaded the bases in the fifth after Derouin singled, Palmer Holcomb reached on an error and Marshall was hit by a pitch.

Hughes, who struck out seven in six innings of work to earn the win for Central Valley, looked like he'd wiggle out of it.

He got the next two batters out before Reginelli's hit cut the lead to 4-3.

The Planets' hope was short-lived.

Chris Sepos singled to open the bottom of the inning for Central Valley. Melchiorre drew a walk and both moved up a base on a balk.

Hughes singled Sepos in and Melchiorre scored on a throwing error. Urtz then singled in Hughes to extend the lead to 7-3.

“We made a few mistakes that cost us a lot of runs,” Simkovich said. “I think if we didn't make those mistakes, we would have won the game.”

Mars had runners reach scoring position in the sixth and seventh inning with two outs, but couldn't bring them home.

The Planets also had two runners in scoring position with one out in the third, but came up empty.

“We had some opportunities to score runs early and we didn't get it done,” Bednar said. “Ty had the big hit for us with the bases loaded and two outs, but we needed a couple more of those.”

Mars 000 030 0 — 3 8 5

Central Valley 000 430 x — 7 7 1

W: Scott Hughes 6IP (7K, 1BB). L: Matt Derouin 4IP (6K, 2BB).

Mars (10-9): Ryan Leshinsky 1B, Jake Swiatek 1B, Zarek Simkovich 2-1B, Matt Derouin 1B, Ty Reginelli 3B 3 RBI, Palmer Holcomb 1B, Anthony Michalski 1B.

Central Valley (13-6): Scott Hughes 3-1B, Dallas Jamery 2-1B RBI, Chris Sepos 1B, Dan Urtz 1B RBI,