JOHNSTOWN — The Harmony baseball team lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to Conemaugh Valley in the first round of the District 6 A playoffs on Thursday.

The Blue Jays scored a run in the first and second innings.

The Owls cut the lead in half in the fourth, but couldn’t push the tying run across.

The run in the first came after Jeremy Dietz had a one-out single in to center.

Logan Heinlein then doubled, putting runners on second and third.

Lance Masser hit a sac fly into right, plating Dietz.

Heinlein was left stranded on third when Kyron Fields flew out to center to end the inning.

Dietz, Conemaugh’s starter, sat the Owls down in order in the top of the second.

The Blue Jays then added an unearned run in the bottom of the frame.

Gavin Buchan reached on an error in the outfield that allowed him to eventually come around and score, making it 2-1.

Harmony starter JJ Sward struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning.

The Owls had a big chance to score in the top of the third.

Kyle Schultz singled into center. Chase Buck then bunted and reached. There was an error on the play, allowing Schultz to go to third and Buck to go to second.

But the very next batter hit into a double play, and Dietz got out of it with a ground out to third.

Harmony finally got on the board in the top of the fourth.

Parker Maseto reached on an error by the shortstop. He moved to second on a passed ball.

Dietz struck out the next batter, but Maseto moved to third on a wild pitch.

Jace Nihart singled into left, plating Maseto and cutting the lead to 2-1.

Harmony did get another runner on due to an error in the outfield, but Dietz pitched out of it, getting a strikeout to leave two Owls on the base paths.

Sward had a quick 1-2-3 fourth, getting two pop up and a strikeout.

Neither team had much luck getting baserunners until the bottom of the sixth, when the Blue Jays had runners reach on back-to-back walks.

One of those runners, Wes Smith, got caught stealing, thrown out by a Jacob Pearce to Parker Maseto laser.

Sward got a strikeout before Masser singled, putting runners on the corners.

But Sward got the next batter to fly out to right, ending the threat.

Harmony had one last chance at tying it up in the top of the seventh against reliever Masser.

But Masser struck out two and got the other to line out to first, setting the final at 2-1.

Dietz earned the win, going five innings and allowing just one run on four hits and one walk. He struck out five.

Masser got the save, going two innings and striking out two.

Sward ended with the loss, despite giving up just one earned run on three hits and two walks. He fanned eight batters in his final start in an Owl uniform.

Sward also had a double in the game.

Harmony finished the season at 5-14.

Conemaugh Valley improved to 11-10. The Blue Jays travel to Blacklick Valley on Monday.

Harmony—1

J. Pearce c 3000, H. Pearce cf 2000, Sward p 3010, Maseto ss 3100, Doland 1b 3000, Nihart lf 3011, Hugill 2b 3000, Schultz rf 3010, Buck 3b 3010. Totals: 26-1-4-1.

Conemaugh Valley—2

Smith c 2000, Dietz p 2110, Heinlein ss 3010, Masser 1b 2011, Fields cf 3000, Stiffler lf 2000, Buchan 2b 2100, Toth rf 1000, Brown ph 1000, Weimer 3b 2000. Totals: 20-2-3-1.

Score by Innings

Harmony 000 100 0—1 4 1

CValley 110 000 0—2 3 3

Errors—Schultz. Heinlein, Masser, Toth. 2B—Sward. Heinlein. SF—Masser. SB—H. Pearce. CS—Smith.

Pitching

Harmony: Sward—6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO.

Conemaugh Valley: Dietz—5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO. Masser—2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.

WP—Dietz. LP—Sward.