Throughout its tournament life, the Onondaga 16-18 Babe Ruth Baseball All-Star team prided itself in battling back when facing its share of challenges in order to keep its dreams of a national title alive.
Ultimately, it took Onondaga all the way to the elimination round of the 16-18 Babe Ruth World Series in Mobile, Alabama where, of all things, a comeback by the opposition stopped this remarkable run.
Just getting to the national tournament required Onondaga to overcome an early defeat in the Babe Ruth Mid-Atlantic Regionals in late July at Hopkins Road Park, winning six games in five days.
Once in Mobile, Onondaga found itself as one of 10 teams in two divisions. Four games of pool play would determine which sides would advance to the elimination rounds.
Weather was a factor throughotu the tournament, starting with an Aug. 2 weather postponement of Onondaga’s opener against Mid County (Texas).
When they did play a day later, Onondaga lost, 3-2, the game scoreless until the sixth inning, when four walks and a hit batsman got Onondaga both of its runs, only to have Mid County answer with all of its runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull it out.
Things got tougher for Onondaga when it lost, 11-0, to Bakersfield (California), held to just two hits in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule. Now Onondaga had to win both of its remaining games in pool play to have any chance to advance.
Against Crown Point (Indiana), Onondaga led 3-0 before giving up three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. They went to extra frames, where in the top of the eighth Onondaga plated three runs, all with two out, with clutch RBI singles by David Cifonelli (Bishop Grimes) and Adam Douglas keying the rally.
Still, it wasn’t over. In the bottom of the eighth, Crown Point scored to cut the margin to two, but relief pitcher Mason Sands (Solvay) got the final outs and Onondaga had a 6-4 victory.
Late on Monday night, Onondaga faced Vancouver (Washington) and trailed 6-2 going to the bottom of the sixth. Knowing a defeat meant elimination, Onondaga fought back once more.
Loading the bases with nobody out, Onondaga used run-scoring hits from Skyler Gashi (Bishop Grimes), Kent Wilson (CBA), Andrew O’Connor and Ryan Bennett (Westhill) to tie it, 6-6, and then Brendan May scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
O’Connor, in his third inning pitching relief after stints by Douglas and Liam Barry (West Genesee), got the final out in the seventh inning with the tying run on third, and Onondaga had a 7-6 victory.
Once pool play was done, Onondaga found itself in third place in its pool behind Mid County and Bakersfield, so it advanced to the quarterfinal round against the second-place finisher from the other pool, Cape Cod (Massachusetts) on Thursday after another weather postponement the day before.
The two days of rest refreshed Onondaga as it jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead, runs scored by Cifonelli and Chris Bonacci (West Genesee). And it protected that margin with Jed Boyle (Corcoran) pitching five shutout innings, helped by strong defense behind him.
It got to 3-0 in the fifth when Bonacci scored on Cifonelli’s line-drive single, and 4-0 in the top of the sixth as Wilson sent the first pitch of the inning over the wall for Onondaga’s lone home run of the tournament.
And then it all got away.
Cape Cod chased Boyle by getting its first three runners on base in the bottom of the sixth. Barry relieved him but could not keep Cape Cod from scoring three runs, then tying it on a wild pitch and moving in front with a single.
One more comeback could get Onondaga to the semifinals, but it was unable to score in the seventh inning and lost, 5-4, a remarkable summer ending three victories short of a Babe Ruth World Series title.
