NOTE: This is Wellsville’s 17th title in school history and ties Pittsford Sutherland who had the record for a few hours when they beat HFL this morning 2-1. It’s the third straight title for Wellsville. (PHOTO: A tradition Coach Anderson started in 2005, after winning a title, the bus goes to the Hank Sinkey Little League field and the team takes a lap with players. More photos in the story)
The start was not good for Wellsville on Saturday in Livonia during the Section V title game .
Wellsville senior Trenton Green gave up two first inning hits and the Lions trailed East Rochester, 2-0 with no outs and a runner on third.
However, Green put together a performance of a lifetime, retiring the next 14 batters and gave one more hit, striking out 12 as Wellsville (14-7) defeated East Rochester, 10-2.
Green picked up the win in the first game of sectionals, a 7-5 win over Bishop Kearney, then with just 17 pitches picked up the win in the semi-finals against Bolivar-Richburg/Cuba-Rushford.
On Saturday, he threw 103 pitches and picked up ANOTHER win and the Section V Most Valuable Player Award.
Wellsville will take on B1 champion Bath at 4 p.m. on Monday at ESL Ball Park (home of the Rochester Red Wings).
Last season, Wellsville beat LeRoy, 4-3 when Karson Grover stole home for the deciding run.
With the score 2-2, Wellsville’s first-year coach John Anderson remembered what happened last season, and sent Paul Giovanniello home in the third inning to break the 2-2 tie and the Lions never looked back.
“East Rochester’s pitcher Liam DeHollander was throwing 86 with a nice slider so I felt that might be the only way to get the lead,” said Anderson. “Then Liam took a line drive off the leg and somehow pitched into the fifth before he couldn’t land on the leg and came out. It was a gutsy performance.”
At the plate for Wellsville, freshman Drew Cowburn was 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and with Green, turned a 1-6-3 double play to Karter Grover to end the game.
Giovanniello, a sophomore, had two hits, 2 RBI’s, stole two bases, made a sliding diving catch in center and made a throw from center on a line to stop a run from scoring.
“We were praising Paul for his diving catch — if he misses that, on the turf it rolls for a home run, and for his monster throw home,” said Anderson. “But all he wanted to talk about was that steal of home!”
Freshman Ben Helveston had a double, RBI and a run, senior catcher Matt Ritter had a double and a run, sophomore Karter Grover drove in two runs and scored, Brennen Geffers had a RBI, Ty Rahr scored and Senior second baseman Andrew Ordiway made a diving stab of a ground ball heading to right and nabbed the runner.
“We have such a complete coaching staff, and Joe Carmona has put in so much time with the hitters, individual lessons, staying late and just solidifying their fundamentals,” Anderson said. “Then Logan Dunbar gives them the pitches they need no matter how tired he is and coach Matt Havens brings it all together with his circuit work and giving the infielders extra time. It all paid off with the hits and the plays in the field.
Anderson felt it was the best Wellsville has played all season. He said losses to Olean, Bath, Arkport-Canaseraga and a few on the southern trip had the team prepared for fast pitching and adversity.
“From pitching to hitting and defense, this was our most complete game of the season,” Anderson said. “We have such a great Section V committee who put together a great doubleheader at a great venue. ER coach Todd Kirkey joked, ‘Did you bring the entire village of Wellsville?’ It was a great crowd and a lot of baseball alumni and community members. It meant a lot to us.
During the Section V Baseball Finalist Brunch on Friday, Anderson noted how much graduation decimated the team.
“I never forget the seniors and the work they put in. And we lost a ton of wins on the mound with graduation the last two years when we won sectionals as Ty Vogel, Aiden Cowburn, Cooper Brockway, Gavin Haggerty and Karson Grover won 90 percent of our games. To take it a step further, Vogel wins an NCAA national championship at NCCC, Cowburn’s Alfred State team went to the Empire 8 finals, Alex Green, our catcher, wrapped up the first leg of his career at FLCC and even Cody Costello was MVP as Brockport State won the Club Baseball nationals,” he said.
Anderson continued, “Yet here we are. Matt Ritter asked me last year how would we win again after our last game. I promised him and the seniors we would get back. The underclassmen started hitting in November and one of the biggest factors was Andrew Ordiway. He started the season hitting .444 and hurt his ankle, lost for the season. But he went to rehab, physical therapy, worked hard and came back to blast three doubles to get us to this game and made one of the best diving catches and throws to first I’ve ever seen in high school baseball in the Section V championship game.”
What also made it sweet was Green and senior Brennen Geffers won Section V track and field championships Friday night and won another title less than 24 hours later in baseball.
“Coach Dean Giopulos and I talked each day to make sure they could get the best training without putting additional physical or mental stress on them” Anderson said. “We made this a goal. They had to carry an elite grade point average to play two sports and they maintained that while getting in practices. Our sectional title doesn’t happen without Coach Giopulos.”
In the game for East Rochester, Mason Loria (run), Tyler Leisten (run) and Noah Wollschlayer (RBI) had hits.
DeHollander struck out five with four hits and four walks over 4.1 innings. Wollschlayer threw the last 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and two hits.
