Few people outside of Fayetteville-Manlius expected the baseball and girls lacrosse Hornets to make any kind of noise in their respective post-season runs.
However, both F-M teams have defied the odds and, by doing so, have earned the right to play on the final weekend of the spring sports season with state championships in their sights.
Taking it one step further than any previous team in program history, the baseball Hornets went to Shuttlework Park in Amsterdam Saturday and, with plenty of power and pitching, put away Section II champion Saratoga Springs 10-2 in the Class AA regional final.
This happened just after a Class B girls lacrosse regional final at Ithaca High School where F-M was in control from start to finish against Section IV’s Horseheads, earning a 19-5 victory over the Blue Raiders.
Back when it made its unlikely run to the sectional baseball title in 2019, F-M was unable to follow it up in the regional round, losing to Shenendehowa.
Here, though, what differentiated this F-M team was the way its entire lineup was hitting at a torrid pace, something it would continue at the expense of a Saratoga side that quickly found out how well the Hornets were doing at the plate.
Chris Hoalcraft, whose five hits and home run highlighted the May 29 sectional final win over West Genesee, doubled in the top of the second inning, moved to third and scored on Eton Spinoza’s grounder.
Two more runs followed in the third, Tom Woodridge driving home Ethan Powell with a well-placed grounder and James Mason lacing an RBI single.
Seth Albert joined in the fun with a long sacrifice fly in the fourth that made it 4-0. For a moment, the Blue Streaks would climb back in it, scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth.
But any hopes of a Blue Streaks comeback were dashed when, in the fifth, Mason crushed a pitch deep over the left-field fence for a home run and, moments later, Spinoza, with one on base, ripped one down the left-field line that also went out for another round-tripper.
Three more runs in the sixth wrapped it up, Max Danaher pitching six strong innings as he limited Saratoga to three hits while recording seven strikeouts.
Just as impressive was the way the F-M girls lacrosse team made sure there wasn’t a letdown against Horseheads after it paid back two regular-season losses to West Genesee in its sectional final earlier in the week.
Even with head coach Leah Tuck unavailable and Julie Frechette handling the duties, the Hornets played at the same high level, starting with Ava Angello winning a series of draws that led to constant attacks and constant goals.
Up by 10 at halftime, F-M kept adding to the margin, Angello picking up six goals as Julianna Cogliandro scored five times and tacked on three assists.
Grace Reyna earned a three-goal hat trick. Emily Noel converted twice, adding three assists as Melanie Steigerwald got one goal and one assist. Assists also went to Elrose Hanlon, Sophia Leonard and Kathryn McNany.
Now F-M heads back to SUNY-Cortland and a tough assignment in Friday’s state Class B semifinal against Section V power Victor at 11 a.m. The winner goes to Saturday’s final at that same time.
Meanwhile, at 1 p.m. on Friday at Binghamton University F-M’s baseball side challenges Section IX’s Pine Bush in the state semifinals, the winner going on to Saturday’s 10 a.m. final at Mirabito Stadium agianst Rochester McQuaid or Massapequa.
