SYRACUSE – Burdened with big expectations from the first pitch thrown this season, the Westhill baseball team lived up to them enough to earn another Section III Class B championship.
But that didn’t mean it was easy to get there, especially at the end.
Building a five-run lead in Monday’s sectional Class B final against Cazenovia at Onondaga Community College, the Warriors nearly squandered it, but held on to defeat the Lakers 5-4 and claim the title.
“It was scary, but we pulled it out in the end,” said winning pitcher Mike Madigan.
Madigan had thrown six innings, not allowing a hit until the fourth and amassing 10 strikeouts. Three different times in the early innings, Cazenovia put two runners on base, but Madigan worked out of those jams.
Also, in the bottom of the first Madigan delivered a triple and scored when Taden Chester beat out an infield hit after Aiden Kerr’s single, two grounders and a passed ball produced the game’s first run.
That Westhill stayed in front had a lot to do with freshman catcher Anthony Sampo. Twice, Sampo threw out Lakers runners to snuff out threats, the first time he had pulled this off in a varsity game.
Then, in the bottom of the fourth, with two out and two on Sampo, Westhill’s no. 9 hitter, stepped up against Cazenovia pitcher Jack Donlin.
“I just looked for a good pitch to hit,” said Sampo.
Sampo found it, and drilled a triple to the gap in left field. Both runs scored, and then Sampo crossed the plate when Donlin threw a wild pitch. As it turned out, that was the winning run.
Having lost 11-1 to the Warriors on May 11, Cazenovia would not let this happen again. In the top of the sixth, A.J. Rothfeld and Jacob Grevelding reached base, then went to second and third on a double steal.
Then Rothfeld pulled off a rare straight steal of home. Moments later, Jacob Szalach singled home Grevelding, and it was 5-2, where it would stay until a tense seventh inning.
Tyler Campbell, relieving Madigan, got the first out. But then Jack Byrnes tripled and, with two out and the Warriors one strike away from victory, a wild pitch scored Byrnes, making it 5-3.
Rothfeld then walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, reached third when Grevelding singled and scored when Campbell again threw a wild pitch. Still wild, Campbell walked Clarke, and the tying and go-ahead runs were on base.
But Campbell regrouped and, against Szalach, made him look at a called strike three, ending the game and delivering a sectional championship.
On Saturday at 3 p.m., Westhill returns to OCC to face Section IV champion Oneonta in the Class B regional final, the winner advancing to the June 10-11 state final four at Union-Endicott High School – the exact same venue where the Warriors’ last state title was earned in 2010.
