A POTTER OF GOLD: After remarkable Class D title win last week, Fillmore baseball captures 1st ever Far West title behind Potter’s walk-off single in thrilling 4-3 win over Franklinville

NEWARK — The scene at Maple City Park in Hornell last weekend was something straight out of a movie. A cinematic marvel that was so intense, so mesmerizing and, in the champion’s case, so overwhelmingly gratifying. It was one of those moments where dreams and fantasy became a reality, even if the process leading up to it wasn’t an easy-going one at first.

In what was their third trip to the Finals in four years, they seized their second title. The Fillmore Eagles had toppled the defending State Championship-winning empire governed by the Arkport-Canaseraga Wolves after one of the more masterful comebacks was met with completion in one of the most exciting finishes to a game of baseball, ever.

But this title? It’s clear that this one will hold no bounds. It will be an instant replay that will be rewound and played over and over again. A replay with no words to describe it. Something you had to truly see to believe.

Now came another chapter to chronicle within their baseball fairytale story. They now prepared to put their pen down onto the pad for the Class D Far West Regional.

A second chance to author a different outcome following their previous trip there.

In this final step before States back in 2023, it was another one of those instances where the game had gotten away from them. In Salamanca against Section VI superpower Clymer/Sherman/Panama, an electric start through the first three innings by the Wolfpack allowed them to garner the upper-hand on the Eagles. But as resilient as they had been all through that season, it was clear and obvious that the Eagles were never going to show any quit.

Never.

Instead, they reversed the momentum in the top of the seventh by taking a 3-0 game-long deficit, and shaved it down to a single run with one final rally to employ a great deal of compulsion against them. But in the end, the Wolfpack warded it off to capture the Far West Regional crown, ending Fillmore’s season.

At Colburn Park in Newark two years later, the Eagles received that key once again to unlock the same path forward to Binghamton next weekend. This time, against the Franklinville Panthers. With the home of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League’s (PGCBL) Newark Pilots seeing both teams being well represented on each side of the field, there were also two special guests sitting up high in the sky above one of the light towers in right field taking in all the action.

Two bald eagles.

Perhaps a good omen?

Right away, the Eagles were met with a nearly identical scenario as they did last week — falling under the gun early. But once again, they were never fully out of reach. Not by a long shot. They were able to overcome the early struggle to seize their first lead, all before Franklinville evened the playing field down the stretch.

With the defenses remaining rock solid throughout, there was yet another opportunity that the battle-tested Eagles would face extra innings for a third time in five games this postseason. After an absolutely resilient outing to keep the Panthers at bay in the seventh inning, a presentation of a chance to record another exciting finish for the ages.

They worked to the top of their lineup just in the nick of time to give Franklinville everything they could handle, one last time. With the game-winning run occupying base, that set up shop at the plate for another potentially dynamic finish for the books. The spotlight was on Damon Potter to do it.

In one swing of the bat, he did not hesitate. The Fillmore side of the field erupted in chaos. The mobbing of their star senior, followed.

The Eagles were now soaring as high as they’ve ever been before.

All the way to Binghamton.

With a brilliant comeback performance from Jared Boon in relief helping set the stage for their final at-bats of the game, all the momentum they had built off their last line of defense had fully transitioned to their offense. Led by a lead-off double by Boon, it was Potter just two at-bats later that ended the game, blasting a walk-off single into right center field to score his freshman teammate easily to put the prettiest of bows on what will be their first ever trip to the New York State Final Four next weekend, as they claimed the Class D Far West Regional title in exciting and thrilling style with a 4-3 win.

“Jared gets the double, right? That’s huge for us and then we have Damon step in. Damon’s been struggling lately at the plate, but you want your best players up at the biggest moments. Everything else before that, whether he was zero for his last 50, it didn’t matter. He’s our best player. We want him for this. Did he ever deliver,” said Eagles coach Kaiden Bowers. “What a time to do it. Holy cow. This is unbelievable. The goal at the beginning of the year is to always compete for a Sectional championship. But everything after that, it’s kind of like playing with funny money. The bonus. I just can’t say enough about these guys. They deserve so much for the work they’ve put in all year to get here. All the glory goes to them. It’s amazing. It’s awesome.”

In order to put the wraps on yet another first for Fillmore Central School this Spring, the Eagles (15-7) had to chart their course from behind right away against the Panthers, who utilized some small ball activity to ignite their offense. After Bretton Blecha laid down the first off to the right side to reach, he was then identified as the game’s first run, as he scored off an Isaac Towne base hit past third base and into left field to break the ice.

“It’s always tough giving up one early and getting behind the eight ball soon after that,” said Bowers. “We were in that same situation last week against Arkport-Canaseraga. We trust our process. We trust our bats, and if we’re doing what we’re preaching, we know the runs are going to come eventually or at least the hits and getting a little bit of momentum will. Once we get that momentum, we can hopefully ride that.”

And trust they did.

After both teams traded a scoreless half inning each, Fillmore then went to work themselves at the bottom of their order. With two runners standing on base, eighth grader Liam McCumiskey — the Eagles No. 9 hitter in the lineup, came through in the biggest of ways to give them their first advantage, driving a 3-2 pitch straight up the middle to plate both runs for a 2-1 lead.

McCumiskey then later scratched across the plate off a passed ball to the backstop by Franklinville, scoring with ease to triple their advantage over the Panthers.

The scoring would then cease for the Section V champions, as Franklinville made a change on the mound from Blecha to Matt Spittler. And it was a pitching alteration that threw the Eagles through a loop across the next several innings, as Spittler proceeded to toss four straight shutout innings to transfer the propulsion to their side of the field.

As a result, the Panthers leveled the playing surface with a run in each of the next two innings, beginning with Spittler’s single into left field in the top of the third to score Blecha, and ending with a throwing error to first base off of Nick Hillman’s sacrifice bunt in the top of the fourth inning that scored the game-tying run.

Bowers praised Spittler’s command on the mound to keep his team off-balance.

“Spittler threw amazing today,” he said of the Franklinville reliever. “He worked really quickly, he pounded the zone and it was hard for us to kind of get anything going at the plate. Three up, three down quick innings hurt, and how quick he was working, it felt like we were spending more time on defense than we were on offense. But we continued to make plays out there that kept us in the game until the moment mattered.”

At time came in the midst of the scoreless inning stalemate traded between each squad, as the Panthers garnered two prime chances to lay claim on the advantage for the first time since the beginning. In both the sixth and seventh innings, they connected with a pair of runners on base. In the latter of the frames, it was a tremendous momentum-shifting moment, as Boon approached the mound in relief of Damon Potter and delivered an awe-striking back-to-back strikeout sequence to keep Franklinville stuck in idle going into the bottom of the seventh.

That all stemmed after a simple and brief conversation on the mound. To spread the continued word they’ve preached all season: Take it one pitch at a time.

“The message on the mound was the same it’s been all year, take it pitch by pitch,” said Bowers. “After every pitch, we reset and refocus. We’re just kind of getting our defensive positioning aligned and making sure everyone knew what we were doing. We have a lot of trust in Jared. He’s a freshman but he doesn’t carry himself like one. He prepares like a professional. The kid is very serious about everything that goes on, on this field. Just like last weekend, he made some big pitches in some big moments to get us where we are.”

That big moment came in thrilling, walk-off fashion for the Eagles, as they used a lead-off double from Boon to get their final stand of offense started. After navigating his way into scoring position, Potter then stepped into the batter’s box and delivered the goods for the Section V champions, blasting a bullet straight into the outfield to score Boon, sending Fillmore’s side into the field into instant pandemonium once again to earn their first ever trip to the State Final Four.

A moment that left Bowers speechless again.

“I don’t have words again. This has just been so fun, and the boys are out there just playing baseball. We come to the field every day, and they work hard and we have fun, and then in big moments, players are just making big, big plays,” the second-year coach said. “It’s hard to comprehend where we are and how many tight games it’s been now, and the fact that we’re on one hit or one play in any of our last three or four games and we’re done a long time ago. But we’re just guys embracing this rollercoaster, and they know they have tons of support from Fillmore behind us. They’re playing loose in some ways, and they’re having so much fun, which is the most important part.”

Boon was credited with the win on the mound, striking out three and walking one for the Eagles. Prior to his relief sequence, Potter went the first six innings with six strikeouts and four walks in his no-decision. At the plate, Fillmore tallied their four runs off six hits, with James Hillman, Isaac Wilcox and Connor McCumiskey all adding a hit each.

The Eagles will witness the conclusion of their magnificent season on the diamond come to full fruition on the last weekend of the sports season, as they now head for Binghamton University for their Class D State Semifinal appearance. They will take the field at 7 p.m. for a battle against Section III’s Oriskany — New York State’s No. 1 ranked team, on Friday.

The winner will face either Section II’s North Warren or Section XI’s Smithtown Christian in the Class D State Championship the following day at Mirabito Stadium, at 4 p.m. this upcoming Saturday.

Franklinville 101 100 0 — 3 8 0

Fillmore 030 000 1 — 4 6 1

FRA – Bretton Blecha (2K, 3BB), Matt Spittler (LP, 3) (7K, BB) and Brady Tatlow.

FIL – Damon Potter (6K, 4BB), Jared Boon (WP, 7) (3K, BB) and Connor McCumiskey.