Mounties' season ends with loss in Class C baseball semifinal

ENDWELL - A last chance rally fell short Friday night and a fabulous baseball season reached its conclusion for the Little Falls Mounties with a loss in the semifinals of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's Class C playoffs.

Trailing the Tuckahoe Tigers by four runs entering their last ups at Maine-Endwell High, the Mounties loaded the bases and got one run home with the bottom of the order before during the lineup over with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jax Colacicco, Tuckahoe's starting pitcher, struck out one batter then retired the next on a fly ball to left field to close out a 5-2 victory that put the Tigers back on the field Saturday against defending champion Chatham in the title game at SUNY-Binghamton.

"The baseball gods were not with us today," Little Falls coach Bob Gollegly said after a game that saw fundamental things that had contributed to a 13-game winning streak go the other way on the Mounties for the dreaded one bad inning. "One half inning. We had made the routine plays; we just didn't make them there, and we didn't string hits together."

Not that there were many hits to string together. Little Falls (20-4) had three Friday while Tuckahoe (16-9) finished with four, all strung together in one inning. Despite their struggles, the Mounties ended the game with the tying runs on base.

"The things we've been doing - stringing hits together, hitting good pitching - didn't happen today," Gollegly said. "We didn't have that feeling that we usually have."

Little Falls scored first Friday and senior right-hander Brayton Langdon held Tuckahoe hitless until the fourth inning and after. The fourth started with a dreaded leadoff walk before Connor Brice singled to right field for the Tigers' first hit. Connor Benke followed with a ground ball up the middle that was mishandled for an error while Jacob Liberati raced home from second base with the first Tuckahoe run to tie the score.

Jackson Snyder singled through the left side of the infield and drove the second run home, and one out later John Benke hit a single to right field that was misplayed as two more runners crossed the plate. Jake Matarazzo drove in the final run of the inning with a two-out single.

Those would be the only Tuckahoe hits. Langdon ended the fourth inning with a called third strike and retired the Tigers' final 10 batters.

Unfortunately for Little Falls, Colacicco proved just as difficult to hit with a 5-1 lead. Langdon had led off the second inning with a single, advanced on a ground ball, and scored on Derek Milianta's sacrifice fly.

Chase Regan started the bottom of the fourth with an infield hit on a tough play for the third baseman and stole second base, but advanced no farther as Colacicco retired the next three Mounties. Colacicco hit a batter in the fifth and retired the side in order in the sixth as he took a two-hitter into the final inning.

A pop fly in the bottom of the seventh was the 11th Mountie in a span of 13 batters retired by the right-hander. Milianta also popped up but his ball was dropped for an error that started the final rally. Dominick Izzo walked, and Xavier Dunn's single loaded the bases. Colacicco then hit No. 9 batter Braden McCumber with a pitch to push a run across the plate and put the potential tying run on base with one out.

The pitcher got a quick visit from his coach and went back to work, retiring the next two batters to end the game.

The start of the game had been delayed 40 minutes by a passing shower at the lightless field west of Binghamton. The other Class C semifinalists had played through light rain in the first two innings of their game.

During the delay, sportsmanship awards were presented to Morotti, one of Little Falls' four seniors, and Tuckahoe's Aidan Lynch.

Late games were also delayed at other tournament sites and one was postponed; the Class D semifinal between Section IV Deposit/Hancock and Section IX Chapel Field Christian at SUNY-Broome was moved to Saturday's 10 a.m. championship slot at Mirabito Stadium with the winner meeting Northstar Christian Academy from Section V for the championship at Maine-Endwell in the afternoon.

Defending Champ Advances

Section II Chatham shook off its one bad inning in the first Class C semifinal and advanced to its second consecutive final with a 7-4 win over Batavia-Notre Dame from Section V.

Chatham (23-2) took a 4-0 lead in the third inning but gave the four runs back in the top of the fourth, an inning that started with an error and included a run scoring on a wild pitch and two more on a three-base throwing error.

Notre Dame (23-2) did not threaten after that. Chatham scored twice in the fifth inning, capitalizing on doubles by Cam Horton and Mike Pierro, and a sacrifice fly by Logan Smalley whose two-run double had made the score 4-0 earlier. A balk allowed the final run to score in the sixth inning.

The first two Notre Dame batters were retired to start the seventh inning before a hit and error put a runner at third base with two outs. Tyler Kneller recorded the final out on a short fly ball to center field.

Chatham completed a one-loss 2022 season with a 6-4 win over Chester in the state championship game. The Panthers had shut out Section III champion Adirondack in the semifinals.