Even through a 15-3 regular season and earning a top seed for the Section III Class B playoffs, the Westhill baseball team knew that it was young enough, and vulnerable enough, to get stopped at any time by a determined opponent that could make all the right plays at the right moments.
And that’s what transpired in Monday’s Class B semifinal at Rome’s DeLutis Field, where the Warriors ran into a virtuoso performance by Frankfort-Schuyler’s Joe DeSarro and saw its season end with a 5-3 defeat to the Maroon Knights.
Again it was Memorial Day, and again Westhill found itself in Rome, the same day and place where, a season ago, Clinton beat them in the sectional finals.
Now, though, the opponent was Frankfort-Schuyler, who had moved up from Class C this spring and had just gone through a 5-1, nine-inning victory over Cazenovia in the quarterfinals two days earlier, where Mike Spina had pitched all nine innings for the Maroon Knights.
DeSarro would pitch on this day – but before he even took the mound, DeSarro hurt Westhill by crushing a two-run home run in the top of the first inning off Warriors starter Jeff Lobello.
As if that wasn’t enough, DeSarro returned in the top of the third and went deep again, his second round-tripper pushing F-S to a 3-0 lead.
Right away, though, the Warriors started to battle back. DeSarro had escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first, but in the third Sam Walsh doubled, and helped by two Maroon Knights errors, Walsh scored to cut the deficit to 3-1.
An inning later, Westhill pulled even thanks to more bad F-S defense. Chris Coates singled and Mike Burton reached base when DeSarro hit him, and after a sacrifice bunt, both of them scored on a throwing error by the Maroon Knights’ Parker Goldsmith.
Burton had replaced Lobello on the mound in the fourth. In the top of the fifth, F-S loaded the bases thanks to a single, wild pitch and two intentional walks, and then Goldsmith, atoning for his error, singled home Mitchell Shortt, though DeSarro was tagged out trying to score.
It stayed 4-3 until the top of the seventh. With Walsh, the third Westhill pitcher, trying to keep things close, DeSarro drew a two-out walk and raced home on Justin Kiesow’s double. A passed ball put Kiesow on third, and he trotted home when Zach Perri singled.
To complete his remarkable individual effort, DeSarro struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, giving him eight K’s for the afternoon as he only allowed four hits and F-S advanced to face defending champion Clinton in Thursday night’s sectional final at NBT Bank Stadium.
Following a first-round bye, the Warriors met up with no. 8 seed Skaneateles in the Class B quarterfinals on May 24, and had to hang on for a tough 4-3 victory over the Lakers.
Skaneateles saw pitcher Paul Musso throw a no-hitter in his team’s 1-0 win over Solvay in the opening round. Now it was Nick Hyland’s turn on the mound for the Lakers against Walsh.
But Walsh didn’t have his best stuff. Staked to a 1-0 lead by Brad Canavan’s RBI double, he gave up two runs in the top of the second without surrendering a hit as he walked four batters, hit another and watched on run score on a squeeze bunt.
When Walsh walked Sepp Martin to lead off the top of the third, Burton replaced him, and he promptly blanked the Lakers over the course of the next four innings, giving Westhill ample time to stage yet another comeback.
In fact, the Warriors went in front 3-2 in the bottom of the third on back-to-back doubles from Walsh and Bobby Antonacci, a sacrifice bunt and Canavan’s RBI groundout. An insurance run came in the fourth thanks to two walks and another squeeze bunt, this one from Galen Hayes.
Up 4-2 going to the top of the seventh, Burton gave up a walk and single to lead off that inning, and Joe Sweeny replaced him, only to load the bases with one out, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
Staying cool, Sweeny coaxed Jake Reed to fly out, which scored a run, but kept the others in place. Then Jim Drancsak grounded to Ryan Roland, who threw out Drancsak at first to end it.
That, as it turned out, would be Westhill’s last win of a 17-4 season, and with just two seniors on the roster who are graduating, the Warriors fully expect to contend again in 2015.
