Cast into a slightly unfamiliar role, the Westhill baseball team embraced it, rising from a no. 5 seed and seeing most things break right for them in pursuit of another Section III Class B championship – until the final.
Only at the last hurdle did the Warriors stumble, done in by a long, excruciating fourth inning that proved the difference in a 7-5 defeat to Adirondack in Monday’s sectional final at Onondaga Community College.
At first, the Warriors took advantage of getting to play on OCC’s turf field on May 22 for its opening-round game against Canastota, while many other games were rained out.
Westhill won, 7-0, and then saw a possible long road trip to Adams negated when no. 13 seed Marcellus upset no. 4 seed South Jefferson 8-5. So the quarterfinal would have the Warriors against the Mustangs at Hopkins Road Park, the game moved because Westhill was hosting the sectional B-1 track and field meet.
As it was in the regular season, Westhill beat the Mustangs, this one a 10-2 decision where the Warriors took charge with five runs in the bottom of the second, helped by a trio of Marcellus errors.
Both of the Mustangs’ runs came in the fourth as Mike Licamele drove home Ben McFall and Ryan Pierce, but after that Nate King threw three scoreless innings in relief of Andrew O’Connor.
Meanwhile, the Warriors got away with two runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth. Philip Zollo got credit for a pair of RBIs as Adam Herne scored three times, with Ben Coates and Brandon Amidon-Crawford each scoring twice.
This took place as top seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill was ousted 3-1 by defending champion Oneida, a no. 8 seed that now sought to topple Westhill when the two met in last Saturday’s semifinals on the OCC turf.
But the Warriors had planned ahead for all this, and that plan turned into a 5-1 victory over the Indians.
Because it had played four days earlier against Canastota, it was able to bring back pitching ace John Geer on short rest. Geer showed no fatigue as, over seven solid innings, he limited Oneida to four hits and only gave up one walk while striking out eight.
After stranding two runners in the first, Westhill poked across a run in the second against Oneida starter Logan McClelland, but saved its big damage for a three-run fourth where Ryan Bennett’s single scored Zollo and O’Connor tripled home Zollo, ultimately crossing the plate, too, on a throwing error.
A sixth-inning run offered further insurance for the Warriors as Bennett and Zollo also got credit for RBIs and Coates contributed two hits, plus a run scored. Ty D’Arcangelis drove home Jorden Barlow with Oneida’s lone run in the top of the seventh.
And this brought Westhill to the sectional title game. Adirondack, the no. 2 seed, had not lost since mid-April, and after narrow escapes against Camden (4-3) and Homer (3-2) had blasted Skaneateles 17-3 in the semifinals.
O’Connor got the pitching nod again and, after surrendering a first-inning run, blanked the Wildcats over the next two frames as the Warriors tied it, 1-1, in the third on a single, sacrifice bunt and throwing error.
Then came the top of the fourth, where it all fell apart for Westhill.
In a 30-minute sequence, Adirondack had eight consecutive batters reach base against O’Connor, Zollo and King as Westhill burned through three pitchers trying to contain the Wildcats. It didn’t work.
All told, Adirondack produced six runs, with run-scoring hits from Trevor Backer and Mitchell Martin and, in between, a bases-loaded two-run single from Alex Gaylord.
Now trailing 7-1, Westhill would fight back in the seventh, loading the bases and then seeing three runs score on a throwing error by pitcher Ethan Martin.
Then it pulled closer with King’s RBI single, but with the tying run at the plate, Corey Frassica’s fly ball was caught on a dive by Gaylord in left field to end it and give Adirondack its first sectional title since 1986.
