(Photo: Cooper Brockway fires over to first for a big put out. Wellsville won and improved to 7-1 on the season. Chris Brooks photo)
By CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
WELLSVILLE — At almost every house party imaginable back in the 1980’s, you hear the musical stylings of Wang Chung, The Pointer Sisters, The Human League and maybe even, the occasional Bon Jovi song or two, resonate ever so tumultuously through the jukebox.
Out on the metaphorical dance floor, were the Lions of Wellsville — A team who has hit every single stride to start their campaign winners in six of their first seven games. They have danced to the tune of victory, grooving to the beat of hot sticks at the plate and raving to some stellar defense behind an array of solid service on the mound.
Then, the next track on the playlist began to play: Perhaps another fan favorite of the era. A tune mixed together by the duo of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. The lyrics, world renowned. The tempo, upbeat.
It takes two to make a thing go right.
On Monday, those two elements were a furious first at-bats and an outstanding start on the hill from Ty Vogel. Those indeed made a thing go right for Wellsville, as they supplied an overwhelming nexus of hits to force visiting Wayland-Cohocton on their feet immediately. As for the defense, that was Vogel’s source of power, as he held the Eagles to just two hits across five shutout innings.
It took two to take it out of sight.
With the two melodies coming together to formulate that perfect harmony on the diamond, Wellsville would not be stopped until the final pitch was thrown, as the Lions took off running in a full sprint towards a 7-1 start on the season by capturing a dominant 9-1 victory over the Eagles in the Lion’s Den.
“Ty joined the pitching party tonight, and he did extremely well. He had command of his fastball and curveball, and with those, he had his best outing of the year,” said Lions coach Tom Delahunt. “It was nice to see him have that success against a really good team like Wayland-Cohocton. They are strong and we knew that it was going to be a battle for us. He stepped up and put us on his shoulders to shut them down the first five innings. Trenton (Green), we called on him to shut the door a couple of times recently. He throws strikes, he’s under control and it’s nice to have someone like that in your back pocket to help close things out.”
While the untouchable display of pitching was in the midst of development, the Wellsville (7-1) offense grabbed a hold of the reins first and foremost in their opening at-bats. The Lions advanced forward to assemble five big runs off five hits — all of which came with no outs on the board, with the first hit coming on a lead-off double from Aiden Cowburn, who wound up scoring the first run a short time later off Alex Green’s blooper into right field.
The Lions loaded up the bases behind Wayland-Cohocton three times in the inning, ringing the ball each time in the process, with the biggest hit of the bunch stemming off the bat of Trenton Green and his two-run zip straight up the middle past both Eagles middle infielders and into center to continue churning the wheels aggressively towards what was a 5-0 lead.
A lead Delahunt knew he had to have.
“When you score that many runs in the first inning, it allows you to breathe just a little bit,” he said. “Jumping right at their number one on the mound, it was nice to see us get after it. We didn’t particularly hit the ball hard in that inning, but we were putting it in play. We found open holes in their defense to put it, and it just happened to be in the right spots.”
But then the scoring would freeze in place for the next five innings, when both the Eagles and Lions defenses buckled in for the long haul. As for the hosts, it was a matter of playing with the lead in hand. That was up to Vogel to handle on the mound, despite some errors behind him in the field, beginning with Wayland-Cohocton’s first threat on the bases off back-to-back walks.
His response? — A consecutive issuing of three straight chairs to leave both runners stranded, exiting the jam and ending the inning.
The no-hit bid for the hosts in black and orange was broken up in the top of the third by the Eagles however, as Markus Brehm — last season’s Class B2’s Player of the Year, delivered one of just five hits they would muster against the Lions in the contest on a strike that was lost in the sun out in right field.
Brehm eventually worked his way over to third, where he was placed into scoring position. But the Wellsville defense, behind a pair of strikeouts from Vogel and a nice off-balanced throw to first by Cooper Brockway at short, worked their way off to leave him on, keeping their advantage glued together.
With Vogel continuing to deal, it would reach a boiling point in the top of the fifth.
Wayland-Cohocton was faced with their first bases-loaded situation of the game with one out on the board. Looking to take full advantage of the opportunity, the Lions junior ace denied them with as epic of a bounce back imaginable by picking up strikeouts number 10 and 11, leaving every Eagle stranded on base to complete a masterful outing on the mound upon being relieved.
At the plate since the five-run, five-hit opening frame, the Lions had only accumulated just two hits since that point entering the bottom of the fifth. That changed drastically with the aid of one mammoth swing from Alex Green, who hammered a shot that exited stage left for his second home run of the season — a solo shot that sparked a four-run stand that also consisted of a two-run single from Derek Coleman, and an RBI from Gavin Haggerty.
The Eagles were provided one last chance to get on the board, using it to end Wellsville’s combined shutout bid completely with one out, as Ethan Loop posted a blooper into shallow left field to score their first run from third.
But in relief, Trenton Green delivered the goods once and for all to keep Wayland-Cohocton standing where they were to secure the victory and keep their red hot start ablaze.
Wellsville accumulated nine runs off 11 total hits at the plate, with Green’s homer captaining the path towards success in his 3-for-4 outing, scoring two runs and stealing two bases along the way. Trenton chipped in with two hits of his own, driving in a pair and scoring once.
In relief, Trenton allowed just three hits behind five strikeouts and two walks in two innings pitched.
For Wayland-Cohocton, Matthew Clark struck out two and walked two in his start on the mound.
The Lions will have a quick turnaround back inside the Lion’s Den tonight, hosting the Olean Huskies in a 5:30 p.m. first pitch.
Way-Co 000 000 1 – 1 5 4
Wellsville 500 004 X – 9 11 3
W-C – Matthew Clark (LP) (2K, 2BB), Dolan Cotter (1) (K, 2BB), Hunter Trischler (3) (K, BB), Owen Wolfanger (4) (BB), Anthony Schirmer (4) (K) and Ethan Loop.
WLSV – Ty Vogel (WP) (11K, 3BB), Trenton Green (5) (5K, 2BB) and Alex Green.
SOFTBALL
Wellsville 17, Falconer 1 (F-5)
FALCONER — There was simply no slowing down the Lady Lions of Wellsville when Monday arrived in full. In their latest trip over the road to Falconer, the defending State Final Four Finalists in Class B took advantage of everything they saw on offense, while the dynamic combination of Makenzie Cowburn and Makenna Dunbar in the circle held the fort on defense to power up a 17-1 win after five innings.
“We got a big game with Fredonia coming up right on the other side of this, but tonight, we loved how much they made contact with the ball against Falconer,” Lady Lions co-coach Shelley Chaffee said. “17 hits, the girls found plenty of gaps in the outfield to place it, and they were equally as smart and aggressive around the bases to keep the offense moving. Makenna came in for a three-up, three down in relief of Makenzie in the fifth to help finish the game off, so that was great to see as well.”
The bats belonging to the Lady Lions were engulfed with flames from start to finish, as they accounted for 17 runs of 17 total hits. After the visitors in orange traded a scoreless first inning barb with Falconer, the offense buckled down and presented a massive seven-run outburst to help set a defining tone with an advantage they never lost, building onto the second inning foundation with eight more third inning runs to officially cement their victory for good.
Four different Lady Lions all had a hand in bringing the bats to life at the plate, with Marissa Ordway and her immaculate 4-for-4 outing leading the way, posting a pair of doubles and driving in four runs.
Following up was Sawyer Burke, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Averee Palmatier and Natalie Adams each posted a pair of hits, with Palmatier scoring a double. Brazen Beckwith chipped in with a double and two RBI of her own.
In the circle, Cowburn claimed the victory across her start that elongated across four innings of work, fanning eight Falconer batters before Dunbar chipped in with two more herself in the midst of a game-ending 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth to close up shop in relief.
Wellsville is back on the road Wednesday night, this time with a stop in the Swamp at Allegany-Limestone to meet Section VI superpower Fredonia in a 6 p.m. first pitch, weather permitting.
Wellsville 078 02 – 17 17 0
Falconer 010 00 – 1 2 4
WLSV – Makenzie Cowburn (WP) (8K), Makenna Dunbar (5) (2K) and Lindsay Stuck.
FAL – Emily Rhinehart (LP) (K, BB), Hannah Melquist (4) (2K) and Nylah Sharpe.
GOLF
Wellsville 218, Hornell 234
HORNELL — On an afternoon filled with sunshine and clear skies surrounding Twin Hickory in Hornell, it was brightly shining for both Ethan Bailey and Blake Kalkhof at the top of the Wellsville scorecard after Monday night, as the two Lions golfers each garnered the match’s medalist round against the host Red Raiders to set up shop for their 218-234 against their longtime Steuben County rival.
Bailey and Kalkhof brought their a-game to lead the pack for Wellsville (2-2), as both managed to fire the medalist round of 50. Following behind were both Jackson Shoughrue and Fletcher Kaye, as each Lion carded a score of 59.
For Hornell, Noah Panter navigated his way to the top of the card behind his team-low round of 51. Behind him was Alex Norton, who finished with a round of 57. Riley Tierney chipped in with a 61, while Cayden Acor had a 65 to add into the mix.
The Red Raiders (0-2) were also in action against Bath-Haverling, where the Rams managed to claim a 220-234 win behind a strong medalist round of 49 from Tucker Hutches.
Coming up on Wednesday, the Lions are back home to the Wellsville Country Club where they will welcome in Bolivar-Richburg for a 4 p.m. commencement.
BOYS TENNIS
Wellsville 3, Addison 2
ADDISON — A complete sweep of both doubles matches was the x-factor behind Wellsville’s return to the tennis court on Monday.
Over the road in Addison, the Lions used the pair victories to go with a strong third singles performance from Wheeler Dahlgren to assist in a big 3-2 victory over the host Knights to collect their third win in their first four matches of the campaign.
Leading the way for the Lions (3-1) at the front of the pack was the first doubles team of David Anderson and Michael Bidzerkowny, who fought tooth and nail from beginning to end against Addison’s duo of John Clark and Fin Jacobson across straight sets, digging their way through a first-set tiebreak before mustering enough room to squeeze away towards their proclamation of victory with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win.
Following up in similar fashion at second doubles was the team of Caydon Grimes and Brayden Taggart, with the two Lions warding off Jason Zheng and Alex DuBois across the first set before coming away victorious in a tough and hard-fought second-set tiebreak to claim victory by a 6-4, 7-5 decision. For Taggart, it was the first of his Varsity tennis career.
Dahlgren was the last to provide a victory for the visitors in orange, assembling a strong performance and never looking back on it to record the 6-1, 6-1 finish against Jax Donley at third singles.
Wellsville will look to keep the ball rolling into Wednesday night back home, weather permitting, as they play host to Alfred-Almond at 5 p.m.
Singles
1. Nick Wright (ADD) def. Adam Iantorno (WLSV), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).
2. Caleb Abbott (ADD) def. Jeremiah Pensyl (WLSV), 6-1, 6-0.
3. Wheeler Dahlgren (WLSV) def. Jax Donley (ADD), 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles
1. David Anderson/Michael Bidzerkowny (WLSV) def. John Clark/Fin Jacobson (ADD), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
2. Caydon Grimes/Brayden Taggart (WLSV) def. Jason Zheng/Alex DuBois (ADD), 6-4, 7-5.
