CENTRAL NEW YORK – Four area high school baseball teams contained within the OHSL Liberty division would start to face one another in league play when they returned from the school break.
This included Westhill hosting Skaneateles last Monday, a game where the Warriors again reached double-digit runs and handled the Lakers 10-2.
Two-run rallies in the first and fourth innings got Westhill in front. Then it got away with five runs in the bottom of the fifth after Skaneateles cut it to 4-2 earlier that inning on Keelen Marren’s single.
The Warriors took full advantage of seven Lakers errors. Mike Madigan not only drove in two runs, he pitched four innings in a combined two-hit effort with Dom Zawadzki as Luke Pickett scored twice.
Westhill followed up with a 14-1 win over Phoenix a day later, grabbing a 10-0 lead through two innings. Madigan went three-for-three with a triple, two singles and three RBIs as Pickett, Ryan Campbell, Taden Chester and Aidan Ryan earned two RBIs apiece.
Not until Thursday’s game with Homer did Westhill face any serious adversity – but when it did, big hits and clutch pitching resulted in a come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Trojans.
Homer pitcher Mitch Earle blanked the Warriors from the second through fifth innings as his teammates built a 3-1 advantage. But Westhill scored a run in the sixth, chasing Earle, and then put up three runs in the top of the seventh off Trojans reliever Maddox Johnson to go in front.
Campbell, meanwhile, pitched a complete game, striking out 10 and limiting Homer to three hits. Madigan’s pair of hits led the comeback as he and Campbell both scored twice.
Then, going up Friday against reigning sectional Class AA champion Fayetteville-Manlius, Westhill again was tested and again passed it, defeating the Hornets 9-6.
Again, the Warriors fell behind, this time 3-1, and again it came back, breaking out for five runs in the bottom of the second before F-M staged its comeback and tied it, 6-6, led by Stephen Wratney’s home run, double and three RBIs.
But a run in the third and two runs in the fifth, along with four scoreless innings of relief from Zawadzki after a rough start from Aiden Kerr, allowed Westhill to win its fifth in a row.
Luke Pickett led at the late, getting a double and three RBIs. Madigan drove in two more runs with his pair of hits as Kerr and Zawadzki both scored twice.
That same Friday, Bishop Ludden made a loud return to the diamond, pounding out seven runs in the first inning of a 10-0 victory over Weedsport to move to 2-0 on the season as Nolan Feldt threw five shutout innings, striking out nine.
Andrew Pullano’s home run highlighted a Gaelic Knights attack where Greg Purdy got a pair of RBIs, with Colden Sheen, Joe Dunham, Tim Dunham, Spencer James and Mike Masterpole also driving in runs.
Jordan-Elbridge had the exact opposite result, a 10-0 defeat to LaFayette as Emerson Derby took the loss, with Dom Rinaldo, Emerson Derby and Connor Licamele also seeing pitching stints for the Eagles.
