High School Fridays: Three for the price of two

Hall of Famer Ernie Banks famously said, "let's play two". Section II, after the rains spoiled the Class AA semi-final between Guilderland and Niskayuna on Thursday, said, let's play three on Friday.

With most parents at work, the Dutchmen & Silver Warriors completed business in front of a sparse crowd at Joe Bruno Stadium Friday afternoon, picking up at the point of the game's suspension on Thursday night, with Guilderland leading, 1-0, with one out, and a runner on 1st against Cole Hedden.

The Niskayuna senior rebounded by striking out Mason Steward, and, after a walk to Henry Li, induced a groundout from Malachi Flaherty to end the frame.

Niskayuna evened the score in the second against Guilderland starter Dylan Jones. With one out, Chris Erickson walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jimmy Joyce then hit a grounder to second, but Erickson beat the throw home to tie the game. Strangely, Joyce was credited with a base hit, instead of a fielder's choice. Well, at least he wasn't the umpire.

In the home fourth, back-to-back hits by Tim Schaffer and James Murphy put the Silver Warriors in business with nobody out. Erickson hit a sacrifice fly to bring Schaffer home, making it 2-1.

Jones unraveled after that. A hit batsman & a walk loaded the bases. With two out, Aaron Whitley drew a bases loaded walk, plating Murphy to make it 3-1.

After allowing a lead-off single to Flaherty to start the sixth, Hedden moved to third base, and Sam Morra came in from the outfield. Morra slammed the door, allowing only a single in the seventh, and picked up the save, as the Silver Warriors advance to face Shenendehowa on Monday night. Hedden went five-plus innings on the mound, giving up just the one run, his four strikeouts counter-balanced with six walks.
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The Class D title game, then, had a lot to live up to. With the AA game added to the bill, everything else was pushed back, as Whitehall players were arriving during the first game.

Starter Ethan Patch was in a pitchers' duel with Hartford-Fort Edward's Mitch Raymond at the beginning. Patch bent, but didn't break through three innings, allowing only a pair of walks and a hit batsman while striking out six.

The Railroaders, looking for their first title in 30 years, broke through against Raymond in the third. After Raymond hit Jacob Moore with a pitch to start the inning, Austin Barnao doubled, moving Moore to third. Thomas Fish reached on an error, one of six against the Tanaforts' defense, which caved in at that point. Three runs in the third, and five more in the fourth, were more than enough for Patch, who pitched into the sixth before trading places with first baseman Matt Redmond, son of coach Keith Redmond. Thomas Fish pitched the seventh, and although he gave up three runs, finished the game, sending the Railroaders to state play for the first time since 1989, 9-4.
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Schuylerville hadn't won a sectional title since 2005. Between them & Mechanicville, the bleachers were close to full, almost like a typical Friday night during Valleycats season, which, oh by the way, starts in two weeks.

First pitch wasn't until after 8 due to the earlier games, and, again, we started with a pitchers' duel, this one between Mechanicville's Jacob Popeil and Schuylerville's Alex Vallee.

In the home fourth, Rocco DeVito split the gap in right center field for a triple, and scored a couple of pitches later on a single by Matt Wertman. After a base hit by Jacob LaFountain, Popeil lifted a fly to short, dropped for an error. Wertman scored on the play. Two batters later, LaFountain came home on a force play when Vallee's toss to catcher Jack Harshbarger was late, giving Mechanicville a 3-0 lead through four.

However, running the bases may have drained Popeil, who had carved up the Schuylerville offense like a veg-a-matic through four innings with eight strikeouts. Vallee started the rally with a double, then scored on a hit by Jack Bodnar. Back-to-back hits by Brady Eugair & Christian Petralia brought the Black Horses closer. Popeil, however, in trying to pick off Petralia, threw the ball away, the momentum shifting permanently to Schuylerville. Vallee ended the inning, as the Black Horses batted around, by striking out, giving Popeil ten K's through five innings, but Schuylerville now had a 5-3 lead.

Vallee didn't allow another hit in the final three innings, striking out thirteen total, including the last five in a row, as his fastball began to sing like, well, Rudy Vallee, for you old-timers out there. Schuylerville added seven runs against Popeil and two relievers in the seventh, sealing a 12-3 victory.

State play awaits Schuylerville & Whitehall next week. The Class C & A finals are scheduled for today, weather permitting.

"High School Fridays" returns in September.