At the end of a wild and eventful season, the Vernon Verona Sherrill and Oneida baseball teams ended up sharing the Tri-Valley League West division regular-season championship.
The title was shared in the wake of Thursday’s action. For the second time in as many games, the Red Devils went beyond regulation and once again, it finished on top, as an eighth-inning rally produced a 4-1 victory over Holland Patent.
Other than a first-inning run, the Red Devils could do little against HP pitcher John Iselo, who held them to four hits in the first seven frames. The Golden Knights tied it in the bottom of the second, only to see Jason Dalton settle down as he and Mautner kept it tied.
It remained 1-1 into the eighth inning. With one out, Kevin Sayles singled, then sprinted to third base on a bad pickoff throw. Jamie Cielinski followed with a go-ahead RBI triple, and Tyler Mautner drove him home with another single before Mitch Iseneker got his own triple to bring home Mautner.
As this was going on, Oneida was hosting Clinton, and getting off to a shaky start — but recovered with a barrage of bats to beat the Warriors 22-7 and also grab a piece of that Tri-Valley title.
Five runs in the second inning, and two more in the third, had Clinton in front 7-0. But the Warriors’ shaky defense led to a seven-run Oneida outburst in the bottom of the third that tied the game, as Andrew Hornyak hit a three-run double.
Then Oneida kept going, with seven more runs in the fourth, plus six more runs in the fifth and two runs in the sixth as, once again, big offensive numbers were registered in a Tri-Valley game.
By the time it was done, Brian Chevier had four hits, including a home run. Nate Mallinder also had four hits and Hornyak had earned five RBIs.Three pitchers — Mitch DuBois, Shene and Evan Watson — combined to shut out Clinton after Jeremy Rodriguez left early.
So in the final Tri-Valley West standings, VVS and Oneida each had 10-4 marks, though the Red Devils could claim the tie-breaker since it won both head-to-head meetings with the Indians. VVS has a 15-4 overall mark, with Oneida at 13-7.
This means that, for the Section III Class A playoffs, the Red Devils own the no. 3 seed and will face Homer in Tuesday’s first round, with the winner to get Mexico or Cortland.
Oneida wasn’t far behind, gaining the no. 4 seed so it could host no. 13 seed New Hartford and look to advance to a quarterfinal against East Syracuse-Minoa or Camden.
