Offense Propels Olean to Class A Crown

After the final out on Saturday afternoon, the Huskies didn’t really rush the field in celebration.

Their job was not complete.

Olean had three goals to start the season; win the league, win sectionals and go to states.

The Huskies completed their second goal defeating Class A1 champion Williamsville South 9-2 in the Sectional VI Class A baseball final.

They picked up the win in large part to a six-run first inning.

Olean Junior Dylan Vincent knew after that his team was not going to be stopped

“Once we got rolling, it’s hard to stop us,” Vincent said.

Senior captain Garrett Boldt got the game started with a single. Classmate Justin Retchless started a run of six-consecutive hits for the Huskies.

Dylan Vincent hit a double and brought home Boldt to open the scoring for the Huskies. Zach Parr drove home Retchless and Vincent on a single. Later in the inning, Joe Jedrosko hit a single, which after a fielding error by the Billies, became a double and Parr and Nick Crandall were able to come home.

Will South made a couple of uncharacteristic defensive errors in the loss.

“I was a little surprised at us,” Will South head coach Chis Murphy said. “We didn’t play the defense were used to playing. From the first play, we had a lapse. After that it didn’t matter what we did pitching, we had a big hole to dig out of.”

Will South ended starting pitcher Elijah Zells’ day after the sixth hit. David Balk went on the mound for the Billies but the damage had been done. Bolt hit a sacrifice fly that was long enough to bring home Bryan Bizzaro. Balk got the final two outs but Olean led 6-0 after the first inning.

Olean first-year head coach John Zambanini has seen his team play like that all season.

“We’ve been doing that quite a bit this year,” Zambanini said. “When we hit the ball, we get going.”

In the second, Parr hit a single on his second at bat. Crandell hit another single to get Parr home. The South defense made a pick-off error and Crandell was able to score from home to give the Huskies the 8-0 lead.

Parr was proud the offensive production his team put in.

“It’s a great feeling, we really put the ball in play.” Parr said. “We’re a very hard working team.”

On the other end, Bizzaro had a strong game on the mound. The senior pitched five scoreless innings, giving up two hits, two walks and threw two strikeouts behind a strong defense.

The Billies got some momentum going in the sixth as Ryan Hann was walked and Matt Chrzanowski followed up with a single. But Boldt finished the inning with a strikeout to keep Will South off the board.

In the bottom of the inning, Retchless hit a single and then stole second and third base. Vincent hit a single to bring Retchless home for the Huskies’ ninth and final run of the game.

The Billies had only given up one run in their three previous playoff games. So, the offensive explosion came to a surprise to Olean.

“I thought was going to be a pitcher’s duel all the way,” Zambanini said. “We jumped on their pitcher right away and rattled him.”

Bolt got on in trouble in the bottom of the seventh, throwing four consecutive walks. Will South John Genau hit a sacrifice fly that was long enough for Nick Torgalski to tag up and get home. But on the next at bat, Hann flied out to the outfield for the final out of the game.

Will South head coach Chris Murphy knew his team was facing a tough opponent in Olean.

“We knew we were going up against a scrappy team that could hit the ball in play,” Murphy said. “We saw one of their games on YouTube and we knew that they could swing the bats.”

Olean made it to the sectional final in 2015 but lost 2-0 to Hamburg. Saturday’s win was affirmation for the Huskies. A big reason for the program’s success is their commitment to the game.

“We knew we had the potential to do it but the last couple of years we fell short,” Vincent said. “We don’t stop playing. After the baseball (spring) season we’re always playing in the summer, that’s why we’re so good.”

The Huskies will play the Section V champion on June 3rd. The game is hosted by Section V this year, site and time TBA.