Brockway, Grover, Vogel strike out 10 in 3-hitter; Alex Green, Grover, Vogel deliver three hits, Haggerty, Ritter with big RBI singles; Cole White, Andrew Ordiway, Cam Lyons score runs
By CHRIS BROOKS, photos by Ella Green and Makenna Dunbar
WELLSVILLE — From the top of the lineup all the way to the bottom, the bats possessed by the top-seeded Lions of Wellsville is one of, if not, their biggest advantage. In a particular juncture such as this, they will need every ounce of firepower they can possibly muster, especially with a trip to the Class B Finals on the line.
Entering Wednesday night, it was the very last night that Wellsville would spend on their home field in front of a jam-packed crowd, as they went toe-to-toe with No. 5 Dansville — a team that has not allowed a single run during their Sectional jaunt, coming off a 1-0 edge against their crosstown rival, No. 4 Wayland-Cohocton in the previous round.
The two foes engaged in early combat right from the get-go, with the Lions starting strong out of the gate. It was followed by a response a short time later by the Mustangs to tie the game up and create level playing ground once again.
But despite the brief offensive interruption, the top seeds refocused and reloaded.
They wanted it. And they delivered.
With a 3-3 deadlock providing occupation of the contest, the Lions brought their offense to life again, getting stronger as the game went on. As a result, the No. 1 seeds managed to score the game’s last 10 runs in consecutive fashion — seven of them in the bottom of the fourth inning to break the game wide open, claiming an advantage they never looked back from to clinch their second trip to the Finals in four years with a 13-3 rout of the Mustangs.
“We struck first in the first inning and then they came back at us,” said Lions coach Tom Delahunt. “Early on, it was tight and then in the fourth, we exploded for seven runs and took the game right away from them. We hit around and that’s been our biggest strength this year. Our bats were too much for them. If that wasn’t enough, Cooper (Brockway) gave us a great outing tonight to get the win and Karson (Grover) threw a nice outing as well, and Ty (Vogel) closed it out strong.”
The Lions (20-1) were off to a hot start behind Brockway’s guidance on the mound with command of a 1-2-3 of the Mustangs bats, using the momentum to shift gears into the bottom half of the friend, with Alex and Trenton Green combining for all three of the team’s RBI during their tenure at the dish to break the ice immediately.
But Dansville shook it off right in the top of the second inning of play, tying the game at three with a brilliant outing of their own, behind just a couple of hits. But it would be the only time they managed to find the plate again, as the Lions took over from that point on, scoring the game’s last 10 runs.
With Alex Green’s RBI single in the second inning giving them the lead once more, followed by a wild pitch in the third inning, the pressure against Dansville boiled over in the fourth when the Wellsville offense released a seven-run firestorm, led by a pair of RBI garnered by Trenton Green and Karson Grover to push out the advantage in insurmountable fashion to secure their trip to Innovative Field, the home of the Rochester Red Wings this weekend.
Wellsville posted all 13 runs off 15 hits, with four different Lions all posting at least a pair of hits. Alex Green, Ty Vogel and Karson Grover all had three hits each, with Green driving in three RBI and scoring once, and Grover driving in two in the process.
On the mound, the win was collected by Brockway, who prolonged his start into the fifth inning behind four strikeouts and a pair of walks.
Dansville saw a strong outing of relief formulate from the efforts of Eugene DeZarn, as he finished the game for the Mustangs on the rubber with four strikeouts and a walk.
Coming up Saturday morning, the Lions will take aim at their second Section V title in four years, as they now get set to square off with last season’s Class C2 champion and defending State Final Four Finalist — No. 2 Notre Dame-Batavia, who made the move up into Class B this season.
First pitch is slated for a 10 a.m. start at Innovative Field in downtown Rochester.
Dansville 030 000 0 – 3 3 3
Wellsville 311 710 X – 13 15 2
DAN – Mason Mann, Zaiden VanDurme-Blackmon (LP, 2) (K, 4BB), Eugene DeZarn (4) (4K, BB) and Carson Mays.
WLSV – Cooper Brockway (WP) (4K, 2BB), Karson Grover (5) (3K, 3BB), Ty Vogel (7) (3K) and Alex Green.
Photo gallery in slideshow:
