CENTRAL NEW YORK – The Bishop Ludden baseball team could not help but notice that the top seeds in Class AA (West Genesee), Class A (Whitesboro) and Class B (South Jefferson) all exited the Section III playoffs in the quarterfinal round. Then Class D’s top seed, Belleville-Henderson, lost in its sectional title game to Oriskany.
Not only did the Gaelic Knights want to escape that fate, it wanted a championship, and would take a long and winding path to it, starting at home and heading east to Utica before making it back for a title-game showdown.
It started at home with back-to-back wins, including last Thursday’s quarterfinal where Ludden, pushed hard by no. 8 seed Mount Markham, did enough to beat the Mustangs 3-1.
A first-inning run got Mount Markham in front, but from there pitcher Nolan Feldt was dominant, only surrendering two hits while amassing 13 strikeouts.
It helped that the Gaelic Knights struck for two runs in the bottom of the second on Joey Adamo’s single and added a run in the fourth driven home by Jimmy Westers, who singled and doubled as Tim Dunham had three hits.
Now it was off to Utica’s Murnane Field for Saturday’s semifinal against no. 4 seed Weedsport, a team Ludden had beat 10-2 way back on April 14 – and would top again here, this time by a 7-2 margin.
Here the Gaelic Knights got the jump, striking for a pair of runs off Warriors pitcher Nico Giacolone in the bottom of the first and adding three runs in the third for a 5-0 advantage..
A two-run sixth helped ice the victory, Ludden having seen Feldt burn Weedsport by going three-for-three with a double, two singles and three RBIs.
Joe Dunham, pitching six solid innings before Mike Masterpole worked the seventh, struck out nine and only gave up three hits, while getting two hits at the plate and scoring twice. Tim Dunham also had two hits as he, along with Westers, Parker Pichoskie and Greg Purdy, had one RBI apiece.
And this brought Ludden back to its neighborhood – or more specifically, a few miles up the road to Onondaga Community College, where Tuesday night it would battle Little Falls for the sectional championship.
As it had all season, the Gaelic Knights brought an all-out effort – but the Mounties, led mostly through the pitching and bat of Chase Regan, got the best of this battle, prevailing by a score of 7-1.
Feldt returned to the mound for Ludden and got through the first two innings without any trouble. But in the top of the third, Little Falls got in front 1-0, Braden McCumber walking, stealing second and scoring on Jack Morrotti’s single.
Ludden tied it in the bottom of the fourth when Feldt reached base on what was ruled an infield and raced all the way home on Masterpole’s triple.
That 1-1 tie did not last, though. In the top of the fifth Wyatt Beadle tripled and scored on a wild pitch, McCumber walked and scored on Morrotti’s double and and a Phillips RBI single capped the rally.
Regan already had enough runs to work with, but he drove in two more in the seventh with a triple off Masterpole and then closed out the game, having only allowed two hits and three walks.
