IT TAKES ONE: Vogel out no-hits ND-B’s Sherwood, Brockway lays down crucial game-winning bunt to secure Wellsville’s 2nd title in 4 years; will face Section VI champ Medina in FWR next weekend

ROCHESTER — Emerging only when they are needed, heroes reveal themselves to the world in a moment marked by the realization of their ultimate destiny.

Those are just some of the words once uttered by the legendary voice of Morgan Freeman, putting into perspective the importance of one’s efforts in the most dire of situations. Being a hero doesn’t always necessarily entail putting on the cape to save the world, but rather to just simply go out and do the best possible thing.

After smacking the ball left and right since the very beginning of the season, and into their first three games of Sectional play, the top-seeded Lions of Wellsville were now tasked with a formidable foe like no other — defending State Final Four Finalist, Notre Dame-Batavia, led by their top hurler Jaden Sherwood.

There was the possibility of the Lions tangling with their No. 2 seeded counterparts in a seven inning battle of wits, as they countered Sherwood with their ace in the hole, Tyler Vogel for Saturday’s Class B Finals at Innovative Field in downtown Rochester.

And boy, was it ever.

It was a fight for survival in the midst of a true clash of the baseball titans. That would see them bring into focus a certain aspect of the game that they have not needed to utilize. That being the bunt — a handy, yet devastating tactic if the perfect situation to strike ever arose. Despite several program records being broken by Wellsville’s greatest hitting squadron ever, it was still an element that head coach Tom Delahunt says they’ve worked on during the week just in case of a potential stalemate between the two 20-1 teams.

“Within the last week, we practiced that,” he said. “We're so used to hitting the ball, that we haven't had to bunt. We have seven kids that are hitting over .400 on the season, and this team has the highest batting average in the history of the program. We have a couple of kids on our team that have a higher batting average than some of the record holders themselves. We've scored a ton of runs and we know how to score them, we just haven't had to bunt.”

Sherwood and Vogel took their places at the first position on the field and they proceeded to fight like their Sectional lives depended on it. Strikeout after strikeout, defensive play after defensive play behind them, the two hurlers never blinked. The staring contest would last the entire seven innings, all without Notre Dame-Batavia nor Wellsville ever registering a hit.

The pitcher’s duel was absolute cinema.

With the Kodak Tower overlooking from afar at every little shred of action that bore witness at the home of the Rochester Red Wings, there was only one run that managed to work its way across the plate. One combined run on no hits, in a game of such an astonishing caliber. Sometimes, all it takes is just one.

Remember the part about heroes revealing themselves to the world? That was Cooper Brockway.

It was only a matter of time before the debate revolving around small ball came into play. The question that remained was when exactly? That answer was fulfilled by Brockway in the bottom of the fourth inning following three straight 1-2-3 innings issued by Sherwood’s arm for the Irish. The top-seeded Lions switched up their game to the short field when they were able to plug a runner on base, which stemmed from an error on Aiden Cowburn’s smack into right field.

He remained on and worked his way around to third to serve as the game’s first run. At the plate, Brockway stepped in, squared up and laid a magnificent bunt down for Notre Dame-Batavia to field on the left side. While the Irish were collecting the ball for a throw to first to grab the out, they immediately fired it back home to catch Cowburn making a jailbreak run to the plate. One slide later, and the Lions were the first team to strike.

The purest example of practice making perfect.

Because of Brockway’s bunt and Cowburn’s incredible base-running between third base and home plate, the Lions of Wellsville turned their full attention to the defense to lend Vogel a hand on the mound. Despite giving up an error in the field at the beginning of the game, the Lions junior hurler remained unfazed and untouchable, as he came together for the performance of a lifetime, striking out 11 Notre Dame-Batavia hitters and walking just one to waltz out of Innovative Field as the Class B tournament’s MVP.

Oh, and they captured another championship too. Their second in the last four years, and the first under Delahunt, as Wellsville completed an absolutely masterful morning of baseball with the best result possible — becoming Class B champions with a galvanizing and nutty 1-0 shutout of the State Final Four Finalist Irish.

“We said right before that inning, that in a game like this, all the runs might be scored in one inning,” Delahunt said. “We coaches said to each other who was going to play small ball. I piped in and I told them that it was going to be right now. And it was. Aiden put the ball in play, got on base and things just started to happen. That’s all it took today. Both pitchers threw no-hitters in a super fast game. There’s a lot of people that are not really fans of those pitcher’s duels, but this was amazing. Tyler brought it today. He’s pitched on big fields before with his travel ball teams and he wanted to have the ball for this one today. He put us on his shoulders.”

Vogel added in on the team’s victory, saying “This is unreal. This win today, the softball team won, that's a lot of fire truck rides. I was really hoping to blow that last fast ball past the last kid, but once I heard Aiden call for it, I knew it was under wraps. It was over. I'm feeling great, my legs are a little tired, but I'm feeling great.”

The starting batteries for both teams controlled the game from beginning to end with dominance across the board, with Vogel being awarded the victorious no-hit performance over Notre Dame-Batavia, as he struck out 11 Irish and walking just one. As for Sherwood, he also held Wellsville frozen at the plate for much of the battle, fanning nine Lions batters he faced.

There were opportunities to strike between both teams, with Wellsville (21-1) evading a high profile chance in the top of the first behind Sherwood’s shot that skipped through the arms of Brockway right at the bag and into center field, with the play going down as the Lions’ first and only charged error in the contest. In return, Sherwood would come back out and fire three straight darts on the plate at the Lions, who fell victim to three straight 1-2-3 innings leading up to their game-changing moment in the game — Brockway’s bunt.

With the lead in hand, both pitchers went back to doing what they did best all game long, as they buckled down and delivered a masterful conclusion to the Finals, with Vogel securing a 1-2-3 of the Irish at the plate — with the final out being flagged down and caught by Aiden Cowburn, who then joined the immediate rush towards his fellow junior pitcher just off the mound, tackling him onto the ground and piling on top of him with the old fashioned dogpile

Vogel's catcher, Alex Green, who caught a no-hitter from him before during their travel ball adventures, says he couldn’t be any more proud of him.

“He’s such a great pitcher, and he never finds a way to get down,” he said. “I’ve caught with him for so long now and I know exactly when to calm him down. It’s been a great relationship, and he needs to get picked up soon by a college. This is a great time. We’ll live through the moment today, but we’re not done. We’re one of the best teams in Wellsville, and we’re setting the bar. We have to make it all the way. I caught with him during travel ball in Elmira. I caught Tyler during one of those games there. Our hitters, we were able to put the ball in play the whole time. That’s been the story of our season.”

Following what was a 10-12 season just over a year ago, the Lions of Wellsville have turned it around to score Class B’s top finish, putting it towards a monumental Class B title, defeating the likes of Marcus Whitman, Livonia and Dansville to earn their spot.

Delahunt has taken a saying from Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and used it to speak volumes to his team during the offseason and in the months leading up to the new campaign outside. That starts with his players putting the work in and the rest of the Wellsville Baseball community being right there with them, every step of the way to support the cause.

“Sean McDermott says the best kind of ability is availability. Unfortunately, last year, we dealt with a lot of major injuries to key players. We moved people around and today, the starting pitcher, who is also the MVP of the tournament, only pitched two innings last year. The players from day one, they had to be available and we have a commitment from so many people. The players from day one, when we started the winter workouts, our assistant coaches, the parents, and the community, going down to Myrtle helped for us to stay in hotels. We had a great practice yesterday, and we had a great night in Rochester for the banquet and the game.”

Delahunt added, noting that “We played two 9 a.m. games at the start of the season in Myrtle Beach, and we decided last night to come up here and stay the night in Rochester. We had a great practice yesterday, we had a great team bonding cookout, and we did our normal game-day routine. If it wasn’t for the fundraisers we do that pay for all these kinds of things, from the Hoopsmania cards to the beef sticks, we wouldn’t be able to do any of this.”

And they’re not done yet by any means.

The last time they hoisted the biggest prize in all of Section V, the season ended right then and there. That was during the COVID-stricken 2021 Spring season, where all Regionals and State Tournaments were cancelled due to the global pandemic. Three years later and another brick to add to the showcase, they will now finally get that chance to see how far they can go.

But for now, the Lions are now in celebration mode for the rest of the weekend, as the action picks back up again next Saturday morning in a 10 a.m. first pitch at Grand Island High School, just north of Buffalo, where they will face the Section VI, Class B Champion Medina Mustangs for the opportunity to head to Binghamton for the New York State Tournament, beginning on June 7.

Notre Dame-Batavia 000 000 0 – 0 0 1

Wellsville 000 100 0 – 1 0 1

ND-B – Jaden Sherwood (LP) (CG, 9K) and Liam Berger.

WLSV – Ty Vogel (WP) (CG, 11K, BB) and Alex Green.