A lengthy, highly challenging day became one of the most satisfying in Chapel Field Christian baseball program history come the final out of Saturday’s Class D state final at Maine-Endwell High School.
With two down and runners at second and third bases, winning pitcher Bryce Hollo snared a crispy comebacker and threw to first for the closing out of a 3-2 victory against Northstar Christian.
That rounded out a day that began with a 10 a.m. start and subsequent 5-0 win over Deposit-Hancock for the Lions, a Pine Bush school playing in its second successive state final _ with substantially differing outcomes.
Chapel Field held a 2-0 lead through 3½ innings, was tied by the Knights in the last of the fourth, then scored the difference-making run in the seventh. A strapping freshman played lead role in the big one.
The Lions and Deposit-Hancock were to have played their semifinal 5 p.m. Friday at SUNY-Broome, but that was scrubbed by rain necessitating a 10 a.m. re-do Saturday at Mirabito Stadium.
Chapel Field got through that one of the strength of Leam Powell’s one-hit pitching, only to encounter a grind against Rochester’s Northstar Christian.
The decisive run of the final was scored when freshman Logan Garvey ripped a tie-breaking double with two out in the seventh.
Two runners were aboard. The count was 3-2.
“I wasn’t looking to do too much,” Garvey said. “I was just trying to get on, find a gap. I knew we had one inning, it’s been a long day and I did not feel like going into extra innings.”
And so, he tattooed a ball that bounced and rolled to the left-center field fence to make it 3-2.
Northstar responded with Da’Vonn Stevens drawing a one-out walk followed by Dominic Kurmis’ double to the fence in right.
With runners at second and third, Hollo got a three-pitch strikeout and then the conclusive 1-3.
“Part of me, there’s a relief, like a weight (lifted), said Chapel Field coach Shawn Powell. “As soon as that ball hit Bryce’s glove, there was that moment of realization, everything we’ve been working so hard for for like three years …
“We won a Section 9 title and it ended there with COVID in 2021. We got here last year, we pitched our ace to get here, and Deposit-Hancock handed us a beat-down in the championship game.”
He added, “I have Binghamton on my weather app, it hasn’t left since June of last year because I wanted to come back.”
Northstar’s Section 5 champions drew even with a two-run fourth that featured Matt Allen’s shot to center that accounted for both runs. But Hollo escaped further damage by, after issuing a walk, striking out a batter for the second out and fielding a foul pop to the third-base side.
Kurmis was 3-for-4 for Northstar Christian.
Powell detected signs of Saturday’s unexpected challenge in the fourth, when Chapel Field picked up a one-out run but left the bases loaded thereafter.
“It is really hard to win two games in a day,” he said. “When we scored that second run we were on the verge of putting up a couple more runs, but we didn’t, we scored only one in the fourth inning. I could see tired.”
But in the end, fatigue gave way to jubilation.
“It took us a lot to be here, we haven’t won a state title since 2008 and it feels pretty good to do it as a freshman,” Garvey said.
Powell: “We say ‘win every inning’ and we lost one inning out of 14.”
Deposit-Hancock’s bats quieted
Chapel Field Christian avenged last season’s humbling title-game loss to Deposit with a 5-0 win Saturday morning in which Leam Powell did not allow a hit until Zech Begeal tagged a long one to the fence in right-center with one out in the last of the seventh.
Powell struck out 13, including the last batter.
The winners came up with nine hits _ three from Mike Bonagura _ and played error-free.
The Lions broke it open with a three-run sixth that brought four hits.
Deposit-Hancock closed with a 21-3 record.
A year ago, the Eagles rounded out a 23-0 season by defeating Chapel Field Christian by 14-5 in the state final to complete a dominant intersectional showing in which they outscored opponents by 33-6.
“We’re definitely a different team this year, hitting-wise and we’re all mentally stronger,” Garvey said. “We knew we had a job to do and we wouldn’t give up until it was over.”
And of teammate Powell’s effort: “He’s the reason we got to the final.”