Greece Athena started fast and cruised to a Section V baseball title: How they did it

With a Section V baseball championship trophy within reach, the Greece Athena Trojans went right to work Saturday making sure they would grab it.

Scoring five runs in the first inning sent the Trojans on the way to an 11-4 win over Churchville-Chili in the Section V Class A1 Tournament final and to the team's first title since 2007.

Greece Athena was this close to winning a title last spring but fell to Pittsford Sutherland in the final. Webster Thomas rolled over the Trojans in the 2021 sectional finals. Athena's season also ended during the tournament finals back in 2019.

That's three seasons in a row with a tough finish. Concerns about the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 season.

More:'Everyone stepped up.' Honeoye Falls-Lima's huge inning leads to Section V baseball title

"We lost two in a row," Greece Athena starting pitcher and tournament final Most Valuable Player Connor Osier said about the current Trojans team. "It took us a few tries, that's a big burden.

"We had finalists medals and brought them to every game to use for motivation."

Player of the game

Greece Athena catcher Riley Catena, who drove in four runs at Innovative Field. Catena hit a two-run single in the first inning, drove in Derrick Allen on a sacrifice fly during the second and knocked in Allen again in the sixth with a triple.

Plays of the game

Allen lined a pitch to right-center field for a triple, scoring Sammy Saucke and giving the Trojans a 6-0 lead during the second. The Trojans needed some of the cushion in their lead.

By the numbers

10 - Saints batters struck out by Osier, who pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 4 runs, 4 hits and walking 7 batters.

5 - Consecutive Saints who walked in the bottom of the third, as they scored all of their runs.

2 - RBI on a single by Churchville-Chili No. 7 hitter Evan Putney in the third.

They said it

"I thought the game was over. We shouldn't have. They put us back where we needed to be." - Osier on watching Athena's 7-0 lead turn into five-run advantage.

"That's been our issue. We get ahead in games and let our bats slow down. We did a better job of keeping things going today." - Greece Athena catcher Riley Catena

"Ecstatic, I've lost twice here (in the final). To finally get one, it's unreal." - Catena

"We were confident in what we had, it just didn't work out," Churchville-Chili coach Guy Puglia said about the impact the team's 5-4 semifinal win had on the Saints pitching rotation.

"Right from the start of the season we had a job to do. We lost last year in the semifinals in a game we should have won. We have a good group returning, we'll be back." - Puglia

What's next

Greece Athena has a chance to advance into the Class A state tournament but must get past Class A2 champion Honeoye Falls-Lima in a playoff game May 30 at Innovative Field. First pitch is 5 p.m.