Once again, the Section III Class AA baseball championship would get decided on the turf at Onondaga Community College’s complex – and once again, Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse would play central roles.
If the top-seeded Warriors and no. 2 seed Northstars won their respective semifinals, they would return to OCC and settle the sectional title between them – which is exactly what transpired.
On Monday night, Liverpool would face no. 5 seed Baldwinsville, a team it lost to twice in their three-game series earlier this month. They were supposed to play Sunday afternoon, but heavy rain and lightning forced a 24-hour postponement.
And once they did get going, it took a while to settle – but with patience and poise, the Warriors rallied and, in eight innings, edged the Bees 2-1.
Joel Ciccarelli got the pitching nod for Liverpool, while Nick Borek started on the mound for B’ville. For four innings they kept it 0-0, with a handful of opportunities on either side, but no conversions.
Then, in the top of the fifth, the Bees broke through. David Cerqua reached base, and he raced around to score when Anthony May doubled, the only run that Cicarelli allowed.
Nick Antonello relieved Cicarelli in the sixth, proceeding to blank B’ville the rest of the way in a superb effort that ultimately got rewarded.
Liverpool got to Borek for a run in the sixth to tie it, 1-1, before Billy Clifford took over in relief of Borek and kept the Warriors from going in front.
Now the Bees brought in ace Cody Kaestle, who had thrown a complete game in a 2-0 shutout over West Genesee in the May 26 quarterfinals, to pitch the bottom of the seventh.
Kaestle loaded the bases with nobody out, but somehow escaped that jam to force extra innings. However, in the eighth the Warriors got another chance to produce the winning run, and did so.
Dillan Wilkinson and Kyle Watson drove in the Warriors’ runs as Jake Evans and Rocco Leone each got two hits.Alex Robinson and Carson Hayes were the only other Bees to get hits beside Clifford, Cerqua and May as Liverpool’s Nick Antonello tossed three scoreless inning of relief after replacing Ciccarelli.
Just before that, C-NS, the no. 2 seed, did get in its semifinal against no. 3 seed Utica Proctor, where it scored all of its runs in the first inning and held on from there to defeat the Raiders 5-4.
Of course, C-NS nearly didn’t make it to OCC. In fact, it was three outs from elimination in last Thursday’s AA quarterfinal at the Gillette Road complex when, just in time, the bats came to life and the Northstars topped no. 7 seed Auburn 2-1.
In their three-game series from May 3 to 5, C-NS won twice against Auburn, but the wins were by a combined three runs and the Northstars lost the other game by a familiar 2-1 margin, so it only figured that their playoff clash would prove close, low-scoring and tense.
For six innings, C-NS could not solve Auburn pitcher Steve Bennett, and the Maroons had picked up a 1-0 lead when T.J. Baranick drove home Chris Micucci. So the Northstars were three outs from elimination when, in the bottom of the seventh, it saved things.
A.J. Nesci and Luke Dziados both reached base, and with the season on the line, Dylan Frawley delivered a clutch single that plated both Nesci and Dziados with the tying and winning runs.
Meanwhile, Liverpool had a far easier time in its quarterfinal, knocking out no. 8 seed Central Square 11-5. The Redhawks, who had played Class A foes in the OHSL Freedom division during the fall, quickly fell behind as the Warriors built a 7-0 lead through three innings – more than enough, as it turned out.
On its way to 14 hits, Liverpool saw Jake Evans amass four RBIs and Dillan Wilkinson drive in three runs. Anthony Sgroi and Rocco Leone each got three hits, Sgrois scoring four runs and Leone scoring twice as Kyle Watson got a double and two RBIs. Michael Wright also had an RBI.
Given all of that run support, pitcher Jeff DiStefano only had to go five innings, holding Central Square to five hits. Nick Antonello struggled in his two innings of relief, but the lead was large enough that he could afford those struggles.
Now, in the semifinals, C-NS drew Utica Proctor, who had gone through its own drama to get this far, needing Vincenzo Castronovo’s two-out, two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past Rome Free Academy 5-4 in its sectional quarterfinal after blowing a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh.
After the Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Northstars jumped all over Proctor starter Pat Histed. Connor Stanton led off with a double and scored on Nick Spinella’s single, while Dzadios drove home Brendan Reilly. Frawley, A.J. Nesci and Mike Sciore also had RBIs as C-NS batted around.
Histed settled down over the next four innings and didn’t allow anything more, while Proctor cut its 5-1 deficit with a pair of runs in the top of the third off Chris Cramer.
In the top of the sixth, the Raiders loaded the bases – and then rain and lightning hit the area, causing a one-hour delay. When things resumed, Proctor got across another run against reliever James Salamone, but stranded the bases loaded. Salamone then tossed a scoreless seventh inning to seal the victory.
