Section VI champ Medina fortifies Far West Regional wall against Wellsville behind fast start, stellar pitching by Woodworth to halt Section V champs with 6-2 win; Lions finish season at 16-4 overall

NEWARK — The surge of championship glory can become relentless.

It can develop an everlasting craving for more once you get a taste of the very first drop of its kind. For the Lions of Wellsville, they’ve basked in a whole lot of it over the years, especially on the baseball diamond where they continue to hold a Section V record, which now stands at 16 Section V titles.

Last week’s victory over LeRoy in Hornell marked the third time in the last five years that the program has relished being in that victorious moment. With the exception of their COVID-shortened championship back in 2021, their last two bricks came with added bonuses — two direct trips to the Far West Regional.

One gigantic step towards the New York State dance.

But the outline for this year’s trip was a bit different. Vastly different. Class B was designated as the select class to play an extra Regional game by the Empire State, with the winner then facing Section IV, Class B champion Oneonta a few days later, on Saturday for that opportunity to punch their tickets to Binghamton the following weekend.

For the Lions, in game No. 20 of the season, it was a foe they have crossed paths with twice already. A squad they actually handed their only loss of the campaign to, towards the tail end of the regular season. They are the Section VI, Class B champion Medina Mustangs — Wellsville’s newest postseason arch-nemesis.

Consider this as the rubber match, so to speak.

The stage was set on an absolutely hot and arid evening at Colburn Park in Newark. Both Medina and Wellsville were seeking redemption against one another. For the Mustangs, an avenging of their home defeat to the Lions earlier this year, while for the Section V Champions? — A chance to ascend over the Regional blockade the Section VI powerhouses placed in front of the State Tournament.

The Lions were met right away with a quick presence from the Mustangs, as they applied the pressure in the opening frame to claim the game’s first advantage. With the lead in hand, it was then reposing on the shoulders of pitcher Preston Woodworth.

The rest was history.

Although Wellsville supplied two late runs, including a momentum-boosting score in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Medina sophomore remained lights out from start to finish on the hill, as he struck out 10 and walked one while limiting their opposition through much of the battle entering the homestretch.

In turn, the Mustang bats fed off the momentum, dispatching an advantage that climbed as high as five and remained in place permanently to end the Lions’ season once again in the Far West Regional with a 6-2 win.

“We were always within reach. I never felt like this was out of reach for us,” said Lions coach Tom Delahunt. “Our pitching held us in there, but we just couldn’t find our way on base enough and we couldn’t get the timely hits when we needed to. That’s a good team over there. They’ve won 22 games on the year for a reason. With one loss, I told the kids who gave them that loss. We did. Not all is lost, but that is something we can take away from this. You’re the only one that got to them through the entire year.”

The Mustangs were quick to the punch up against Ty Vogel and the Lions defense. Despite two outs on the board, the Section VI champs made the most of the limited opportunity to strike in their opening at-bats behind Carter Woodworth’s two-run single past Aiden Cowburn at shortstop and into left field. Medina followed up their immediate start with a 1-2-3 of Wellsville’s opening sequence, turning a 4-3 double play to set up shop and maintain their command.

With a positive finish to the second inning after Medina loaded the bases behind Vogel, the Lions looked to utilize the moment as the first foundation for their offense. Instead, the Mustangs reversed the course of action in the bottom half with three straight strikeouts from Preston Woodworth to keep the light switch off at the plate for the Section V titlists.

After each team traded a silent third inning, the Mustangs found their groove once again to double their advantage behind a floating shot into right field from Tyler Kroening that just missed a diving glove of Gavin Haggerty. The ball then proceeded to flutter behind him, allowing both runners occupying base to score on what was a stand-up double for a 4-0 lead.

The deficit was trimmed back down to a trio of runs after Cowburn jump-started Wellsville’s fourth inning of offense with the team’s first hit, pulverizing a double to right field. Using his legs to work his way into scoring position moments later, Cowburn then registered their first run on one foul swoop on Trent Green’s single just past second base to end Woodworth’s shutout bid on the mound.

Just as they climbed back into reach, the Mustangs essentially pulled away for good in the top of the fifth with their largest lead of the game, with Woodworth transitioning his defensive prowess to the batter’s box with a one-out triple to deep right center field, cruising his way around the bases before finding the plate as Medina’s fifth run of the game on a passed ball.

With another run standing on base for Medina’s next threat against Wellsville, Ryleigh Culver unloaded with another damaging sequence on a base hit straight into left field.

With a 6-1 lead entering the sixth inning, the Lions were given one of their last chances to string together a last line of attack against the Mustangs. It commenced with some quick, aggressive at-bats from the top of their order, with Cowburn reaching base to lead off the frame. Green then collected the RBI to bring Cowburn in, issuing his second hit of the game on a single to right field.

A quickfire 1-2-3 inning from their reliever, Green, and the Lions defense behind him allowed them to keep Medina off the scoreboard one last time to set up the bottom of the seventh inning. A chance to keep the momentum in their favor, while Woodworth re-entered the fray to go for the complete game.

As for Green, the Lions coach said it started with him to give them that final chance.

“He came in and gave us a chance,” said Delahunt of Green. “I don’t know how many innings he gave us, and he hasn’t pitched a lot this year either. But Trenton did a nice job keeping them at bay and giving us an opportunity to possibly put more runs up and get back into the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t counter that with the offense.”

As a result, Woodworth fortified his position on the mound tenfold, handing out three consecutive strikeouts to put the ribbon on his victory, bringing the curtain down on another phenomenal Spring season by the Lions.

Wellsville collected their two runs off four hits, with Cowburn and Green propelling the way with two each. On the mound, Vogel concluded his final game in a Lions uniform with four strikeouts and two walks through three innings of work. Green followed up with four strikeouts and a walk of his own in relief.

The 2025 Spring season is now officially over for Wellsville, as they conclude their back-to-back Class B title defense with a record of 16-4 overall. In the midst of a season that was filled with plenty of trials and tribulations, Delahunt says that he is beyond proud of his group for overcoming it to put together another tremendous season on the diamond.

“I told the guys after the game that this group has accomplished a lot. Back-to-back titles, undefeated at home the last couple of seasons and we faced a lot of adversity this year. We fought through that and we have a lot of success to be proud of. We beat a lot of good teams in the last couple of years, and we just ran into a solid program in Medina. Year after year, annually, they are right there in Section VI. They’re a great program, very well-coached. That’s sports for you. Not every team wins a State title. The amount of success our team has had, our school has had, we’ve got 16 championships. But the number of times we’ve been in the State Finals? None. It’s really hard to get there, and you give it your best effort. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

The team will graduate five seniors in all when Graduation arrives in just a few week’s time, in Cowburn, Vogel, Karson Grover, Gavin Haggerty and Cam Lyons.

With the program’s five leaders now beginning to exit from the Lions baseball fray, Delahunt says it will now be on the returners to help fill in the blanks, beginning with stalwart catcher Matt Ritter, star outfielder Trenton Green, as well as a magnificent component brought up from the JV level in Karter Grover mid-season, who became a mainstay as the team’s designated hitter.

“We got everything that we possibly could from those seniors,” he said. “They gave everything, every night. It’s going to be tough losing them, because there’s a lot of experience that’s going to be graduating, walking out the door. A few of those kids, Aiden, Tyler, Karson have been with me the last four years. Cam and Gavin were on JV, but it’s tough to lose all five of them. You get so used to seeing Cowburn at the top of the lineup. You’re used to throwing Cowburn or Tyler, but like last year when we had to say goodbye to Cooper (Brockway) and Alex (Green), the other kids will need to step up and fill in those roles. Matt is a perfect example of that. He was a rock behind the plate for us this year. He had a tremendous season catching and hitting. Trenton will be back too, so that’s two major pieces coming back for another round.

Medina 200 220 0 — 6 4 0

Wellsville 000 101 0 — 2 4 3

MED – Preston Woodworth (WP) (CG, 10K, BB) and Ryleigh Culver.

WLSV – Ty Vogel (LP) (4K, 2BB), Trent Green (4) (4K, BB) and Matt Ritter.