Westhill endured more than five hours of rain and lightning delays Saturday before capturing its second straight New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship with a 7-2 victory over Somers John F. Kennedy in the Class B final.
Winning pitcher Michael McMullen’s two-run double in the fourth inning was the key blow in the final, which was delayed four hours and 48 minutes and did not conclude until 11:30 p.m. The game was shifted from NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton to Union-Endicott High School.
McMullen relieved starter Cory Hewitt after a 30-minute lightning delay win the top of the third inning, inheriting a two-out, bases-loaded situation and an 0-2 count on John Giordano. McMullen got a swinging strikeout on his first pitch to end the threat.
"McMullen just showed guts," Westhill coach Bob Weismore told The Post-Standard. "They all showed guts."
McMullen needed relief in the seventh from Kevin McAvoy, who had pitched a three-hit shutout, striking out nine, earlier in the day as Westhill eliminated Tonawanda 5-0 in the semifinals.
"I told (Weismore) I had one inning in me, that’s all I had," McAvoy said.
McMullen, McAvoy and Hewitt are among three Warriors who also played on the 2009 state championship baseball team, as well as the squad that earned a NYSPHSAA basketball championship three months ago in Glens Falls.
More NYSPHSAA baseball results
* Lindenhurst piled up 13 runs in the first two innings and coasted past Guilderland 15-2 for the Class AA championship at Binghamton University. Ryan Manning's two-run single highlighted the four-run first, and Lindenhurst pounded out five doubles while blowing the game open in the second against a worn-down pitching staff.
Lindenhurst won its final 21 games of the season. In the semifinals, Guilderland senior Matt Zanotta belted his 17th and 18th homers of the season and also tripled to account for six RBI in an 8-3 win vs. McQuaid.
* Sutherland (Pittsford) captured Class A honors with a 6-5 win over Wantagh as Brad Kaczka drove in two runs in the third inning and Grant Heyman put up a two-run homer and a pair of doubles.
Knights sophomore right-hander John Meuchner threw six innings in relief in a 5-1 win over Whitesboro in the semis and then came on to get the final four outs against Wantagh. Zach Silvia hit a three-run home run in the third inning of the opener to wipe out a 1-0 Whitesboro lead.
* Valhalla took Class C with a 2-0 win over Watertown Immaculate Heart in the final as Jordan Holpz pitched a shutout.
Valhalla scored its runs in the fifth as Rob Lerace led off with a single and scored on a double by Mark DeMilio, who would come home on a throwing error. Earlier in the week, Lerace scored on an errant throw in the bottom of the 11th inning of Valhalla’s 4-3 win over Pine Plains in the regionals. Trailing 3-1, the Vikings got consecutive singles from Lerace, DeMilio and Jason Dillon in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score.
Tom Longo came on in relief in the third inning after six Valhalla walks had staked Pine Plains to a 2-0 lead. He went 8 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and struck out six.
* Fort Ann beat Chapel Field 15-0 in the semifinals and then won Class D by edging Bolivar-Richburg 6-5.
Freshman Joe Foran hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit in the final. Sophomore right-hander Robert Sprague threw four innings in the semifinal, then surrendered 14 hits to Bolivar-Richburg and allowed the potential tying run to reach third base in the seventh inning before chalking up the game-ending strikeout.
"He was running out of fumes at the end," Fort Ann coach Dane Clark told The Times Union, "but he's our guy. He was going to be there at the end for us. He didn't have much left, but he had enough to get it done."
Softball: Rhinebeck repeats
Katie Braggins hit a two-out single in the top of the eighth inning to drive home the go-ahead run and lead Rhinebeck to a 3-1 victory over Hoosick Falls in the NYSPHSAA Class C softball championship game in Waterloo.
Braggins' sister, Emily, came through with the winning hit in the state semifinals against Hoosick Falls in the 2009 tournament, and Rhinebeck went on to win that tournament as well.
"It's always running through my mind to live up to my sister," Katie Braggins told The Poughkeepsie Journal. "She left big shoes to fill and I hope I filled them."
Rhinebeck added an insurance run when Braggins scored from third on a wild pitch. Rhinebeck hurler Megan Michie struck out 16 batters and threw a five-hitter.
* Liz Weber pitched a two-hitter and induced 13 first-pitch outs to lead Bay Shore to a 4-0 victory over Cicero-North Syracuse in the Class AA title game. Weber got all the support she needed in the fourth inning as Taylor McGowan singled in the game’s first run and Nicole Marzillo added a run-scoring infield single. Weber doubled home a run in the fifth.
C-NS stormed into the final by stringing together five two-out singles in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past North Rockland 2-1.
* In Class A, Pearl River became Rockland County's first softball champion with a 7-0 romp over Pittsford Sutherland in the final as Katie O'Flynn threw a four-hitter with four strikeouts in her second shutout of the day.
"I feel like we've been building up to this for the last three years," shortstop Gemma Mahoney told The Journal News. "In '08, we lost in the (state semifinal). Last year, we lost in the (state final). And this year we finally came out and won it."
O'Flynn drove home Mahoney with a single in the bottom of the first, and the Pirates tacked on five runs in the second with the help of Jamie Degennaro's two-run single to center field.
* Chenango Valley (Binghamton) rallied to a 7-5 win in the Class B semifinals, then rolled to its first championship since 2001 with a 4-0 win over Olean. CV junior pitcher Taylor Hendrickson was pulled four batters into the semifinal against two-time defending champion Mechanicville, returned in the third inning and threw 12 shutout innings over the remainder of the day.
Earlier in the week, Mechanicville was down to its last strike with no one on base before rallying to score three runs in the seventh inning and squeak past Canton 4-3 in the regionals. The big blow was a two-run single by winning pitcher Anna Arceneaux in the top of the seventh. Canton ace Kacie Wenthworth had pitched 20 consecutive shutouts entering the game.
* In Class D, Livingston Manor junior Victoria Taggart slugged a bases-loaded single with no one out in the seventh inning to defeat Bolivar-Richburg 2-1.
Marissa Diescher tossed a three-hitter with 14 strikeouts to earn the win and finished the season with 339 strikeouts in 142 innings. Earlier in the day, Diescher rang up her ninth no-hitter of the season with 12 strikeouts to beat Germantown 4-1.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
