LG Castillo’s stellar high school baseball career came to a sudden end last May when top-seeded Lancaster was upset in the Section VI semifinals by rival Williamsville North. On Saturday afternoon, the current Legends settled an old score for the program’s all-time greatest player.
Lancaster got some revenge against the upstart Spartans, exploding for nine runs in the sixth inning and running away with a 15-6 win in the Class AA Section VI championship game at Niagara Falls High School.
“It was on our minds all year,” Legends senior Max Giordano said. “LG always texts me, every time we play them, ‘You know who to play for.’ It feels amazing to come out here and get it.”
With the program’s alumni in mind, the top-seeded Legends did get it done against the seventh-seeded Spartans, who seemed ready, willing and able to pull off their third – and biggest – upset of this postseason.
Williamsville North scratched across two runs in the top of the sixth innings to tie the back-and-forth battle but that’s when Lancaster came alive. The battled-tested Legends – with a roster that includes several players from the football team that won back -to-back sectional titles – showed why they’re the top seed with a most-impressive bottom of the sixth.
“We never get nervous,” said senior third baseman Ben Damiani, whose double put Lancaster ahead to stay in the sixth. “Never get too high, never get too low. That’s what coach (Eric) Rupp says in football. We have some great hitters on this team and we have faith and confidence in everyone that comes up to the plate.”
The Legends sent 13 batters to the plate against four Williamsville North pitchers in the bottom of the sixth. The Legends scored nine runs to put the game away.
“We came into the huddle and came to an agreement that we had to get things going,” said winning pitcher Vinny Stutz, who had a two-run single in that decisive inning. “We all went up there with an aggressive mindset.”
Damiani gave the Legends the lead for good with a ground-rule double to left centerfield that scored Kyle Backert. Stutz followed with his big hit and then Nick Castellana and Backert drew bases loaded walks. Ryan Mansell and Giordano then sealed the deal with consecutive two-run doubles.
“The bats came alive; we started to hit the ball hard and scored some runs on them,” Lancaster coach Mark Dalfonso said. “We had to rein them in a little bit because they were losing a little focus and were kind of letting it get to them. We pulled them in and kind of settled them down a little bit. We said, ‘Hey, let’s go out and get at least one.’ And we scored … what was it, nine? That made my job a lot easier.”
The Legends also continued a quirky run of dominance. Lancaster has now won the last four even-year Section VI baseball championships.
“I don’t know what it is, man,” Dalfonso said. “I thought about that … 2012, 2014, 2016 and now 2018. That’s crazy.”
Ryan Voight was 3-for-3 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored He was intentionally walked in the decisive sixth inning. Stutz and Giordano were both 3-for-4 for Lancaster (17-1).
For Williamsville North (8-10), Jake Tuholski went 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs. Luke Terry and Justin Konotopskyj added two hits apiece. The Spartans put up a strong fight but in the end, couldn’t keep up with the high-powered Legends.
“We kind of ran out of gas,” Williamsville North coach Max Zimmerman said. “We gave it a good run. This is a special group of kids. Coming from 4-8 in the league and losing a lot of games we shouldn’t lose, they could have easily quit and mailed it in. But this team showed a lot of resolve and a lot of fight.”
The final out for the Legends pic.twitter.com/qDu7BqvVbs — Mike Pidanick (@mkpidanick) May 26, 2018
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