THREE OUTS TO GLORY BOYS-SOUTH LEWIS 7 LITTLE FALLS 3
JASON MARTIN GOES THE DISTANCE-FALCONS SHOOT FOR OVERALL C CROWN NEXT
Fred Miller-MHTS
“ Three outs to glory boys.” Those were the words that echoed from the home team dugout at DeLutis Field in Rome.
Those five words said it all. Three outs to glory indeed. Monday’s Memorial Day matchup, a 7-3 win by South Lewis, ended in dramatic fashion with a bang and a flash.
A bang and a flash, just like those Mother Nature provided in the bottom of the third inning, when lighting flashed, causing a preordained 30 minute delay that turned into a 70 minute delay, thanks to the heavy rains that fell from the dark, black clouds that raced over Rome.
“ Three out to glory boys,” was indeed fitting after the high flying Falcons dropped 7 big runs on the Little Falls Mounties, just like some smart aleck bird that seems to target your freshly waxed car just as you put the polishing rag away.
Little Falls starter Lucas Godlewski struck out 13 Falcons on Monday.
Seven runs in the 6th inning did the trick and propelled the state’s #8 ranked Class C team to a Section III C1 championship and more importantly to a date with Fabius-Pompey in the overall Class C title tilt on Thursday.
The Class C second seeded Falcons, coached by Chad Brown, are, if anything, a confident bunch.
I say that because I stood next to their dugout today to try and get a sense of what the team from Turin is all about.
The Falcons are all about 7 straight wins, a 15-2 drubbing of Tully in the Class C Saturday semi-final and a roster filled with passion, panache and punch.
It was up to the passion and panache to hold strong in the early going, as the upstart Little Falls Mounties gave the favorites more than they wanted and then some.
Coach Bryan Shepardson can be proud of his team. Proud of how they fought their way through a three day baseball marathon to reach today’s final and more than proud that they were just 6 outs away from putting away the favored Falcons.
I’m sure fans know that Little Falls had to battle 17 innings in two days, Thursday and Friday, to squirm past another heavy favorite, Sauquoit Valley 7-5 in 17 innings.
Jason Martin shows his game winning form at DeLutis.
The Mounties then had to travel to take on Pulaski and they met that challenge as well with a 6-0 win to set up a date with the Falcons.
One of the best and toughest Mounties of them all, starting pitcher, Lucas Godlewski mustered up all the energy he could, as Little Falls built up a 2-0 lead that left the Falcons shaking their heads.
Godlewski has not had the pleasure of resting much as he started against Sauquoit on Thursday and ended against Sauquoit on Friday.
Despite all the innings, the junior hurler used guts and guile to confuse the high powered South Lewis offense.
How flustered? Godlewski struck out 5 of 6 and retired 7 in a row and yielded just two hits in the first five innings. So close, yet so far away from a win.
Godlewski ended up on the short end, but struck out 13 in his six innings of work.
A great mix of pitches helped confuse the Falcons. Godlweski spotted his fastball well and used a big bender to freeze several of the hard hitting birds.
Everything was coming up roses for Little Falls until South Lewis sent 11 men to the plate and exploded for seven game changing runs.
Gimme five my man! Seven run 6th inning turns the tide.
It was a long and hard to watch inning for the Mounties faithful, as their heroes committed 3 errors and the inning seemed like it might never end.
Elliot Martin opened the fateful frame with a sharp liner to left, stole second, went to third on a throwing error and later scored the Falcons first run on a double steal by the aggressive Falcons.
Luke Kelly, up next, became one of Godlweski’s 13 strike out victims. First basemen Josh Stoffle worked out a walk. Hunter Jones then struck out.
With two outs, most of the damage was done. With the score 2-1 Little Falls, pinch runner, Jake Morris took off for second and drew a throw that ended up in center field. From there the wheels seemed to fall off the Mounties wagon.
Hunter Chruscicki came up big belting an RBI double to left, scoring Jake Morris, to tie things up at 2-2.
Shawn Loomis ripped a 2 RBI double of his own and just like that South Lewis led 4-2. Loomis chased home Chruscicki and Dominick Ventura and South Lewis led for good.
Josh Martin looks to kick start a late Mounties rally.
Speaking of two RBI, South Lewis starter and winning pitcher, Jason Martin, helped his own cause by ripping a two RBI single to left field.
When Cody Capron and Shawn Loomis scored it was 6-2 Falcons.
The final Falcons run scored when Elliot Martin put the finishing touches on the offensive outburst, picking up an RBI of his own, with a single to center that scored Jason Martin.
Martin went the whole way for the winners to earn the win and looked good in doing it.
Martin can bring the heat and relied on a high hard one to get the job done.
Martin struck out 9 Mounties, walked just 2, and scattered 7 hits and allowed 3 runs.
Early on it looked like the Mounties would get their man. Little Falls struck early to grab a 1-0 lead and gain the early edge.
Little Falls used an infield single by, second basemen, Mike Stehnach, and two bad throws that put Stehnach into scoring position and finally to the plate, as the Mounties were up 1-0.
South Lewis could not seem to find their groove, as they threw the ball around and ended up committing 4 errors on the day.
Mounties wait to greet # 12 Jason Vespi prior to start of Class C 1 Final.
A second run, for the purple and grey, happened like this. Back-to-back hits, an infield single by Nick Luppino and a single to left by Josh Martin put Little Falls in business.
A, 5-2-3, double play almost got Martin out of trouble, but a grounder to deep short by Tyler Baumeister chased Martin home as Little Falls led 2-0.
The third Little Falls run came in the top of the seventh when Theo Wind scored from third on a fielder’s choice ground ball.
Zach McLaughlin singled to center to keep hopes alive, but Martin struck out the opposing pitcher, Lucas Godlewski, to wrap up the win and start the celebration for South Lewis.
South Lewis 7 Little Falls 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Little Falls 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 7 2
South Lewis 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 7 7 4
Offensive Highlights:
Little Falls:
Josh Martin-1-4-1 run scored
Mike Stehnach-1-3-1 run scored
Theo Wind-1-4-1 run scored
Tyler Baumeister-1-4
Zach McLaughlin-2-3
South Lewis:
Shawn Loomis-1-4-2 RBI-1 run scored
Jason Martin-2-3-2 RBI-1 run scored
Elliot Martin-2-3-1 RBI-1 run scored
Josh Stoffle-1-3-1 run scored
Hunter Chruscicki-1-3-1 double- 1 run scored-1 RBI
Dominick Ventura-1-3-1 run scored
Cody Capron-1 run scored
