Fonda-Fultonville wins summer league tourney
By BILL CAIN, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
GLOVERSVILLE - Fonda-Fultonville baseball finished off its summer season with a 10-7 championship win Saturday over Broadalbin-Perth at Husky Field in Gloversville.
All four teams in the league played for the title Saturday, with FFCS topping Johnstown 15-3 in one semifinal and Broadalbin-Perth beating Gloversville 7-0 in its semifinal. Johnstown beat Gloversville in the consolation game.
Early in the championship game, the Braves were making hard contact at the plate, but were having trouble finding holes in the B-P defense.
"We were hitting the ball well, it was just going right at them," FFCS coach Rick Palumbo said. "They made some great plays early, but we finally started finding some holes. In the Johnstown game, we hit the ball very well and it was finding the holes. We were doing that again in this game, but it was right at them."
While the Braves had trouble scoring in the opening innings, the Patriots came alive right away. In the top of the first inning, B-P got three straight hits on three straight pitches. The first two were triples from Kurt Smith and first baseman John Samples.
Smith's triple plated Nick Wiltey and Samples scored Smith. Garrett Brower took advantage with Samples in scoring position and smacked a single to left field bringing Brower in.
"Even starting with Gloversville this morning, they were hitting the ball well," B-P coach John Samples said. "A lot of the guys are swinging the bat well right now, so I'm not disappointed at all."
The Braves took a one-run lead in the fourth inning when Sean Myers scored on a ball that had gotten away from B-P catcher Erich Schur to go ahead 5-4. Myers had singled and drove in Kody Shaw to tie the game.
B-P tied the game and took the lead in the top of the fifth when Brower grounded to shortstop with the bases loaded. After getting the force out at second, the throw to first was off the mark, allowing both Joe Rogers to score from third and Wiltey from second.
The Braves tied the game in the bottom half of the inning before posting four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Coach Samples said the big-scoring inning late in a tight game can deflate a team that's trailing, but the Patriots have had plenty of experience with late comebacks.
"It's tough to come back from that, but the other night, we were down five and on the verge of coming back, except for the darkness," he said. "They've got it in them at any time to produce four or five runs. We had a good spot in the order coming up and we had our hopes up. It just didn't happen."
Rogers threw the final 1 innings after throwing a complete game shutout in the morning. Blake Hart threw four innings in the morning before finishing up the last three for FFCS in the afternoon. The Braves' Matt Sheehan said the pitching persevered through the long day and the heat, as did the FFCS bats.
"It was pretty hot out today, but we worked through the heat pretty well," Sheehan said. "We stuck with it. In the first game, we were a little shaky, but we played well together in this game."
Sheehan led the Braves at the plate, with a 3-for-4 day, a run, two RBIs and a stolen base. Tyler Hall doubled, walked twice, scored twice, drove in a run and stole two bases. Nate Craig walked in all four of his plate appearances.
In the game against Johnstown, Myers had a triple and four RBIs; Hart had a single, double and two RBIs; and Justin Minnick had two RBIs. FFCS led 14-0 before Johnstown scored twice in the sixth inning.
The Braves drew 16 walks in the title game. Palumbo said patience at the plate has been a goal of the team.
"That's something we've really started working hard on since the second half of the spring - making kids be patient," he said. "A lot of times, we would make it easy on the pitcher by swinging at a lot of pitches and giving them a five-pitch inning. We've been pretty successful since we started doing that. We talk about, not so much hitting pitches in the strike zone, but hitting pitches in your hitting zone."
B-P was led by Smith at the plate with a 2-for-4 day, a double, a triple, a run and an RBI. Brower was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases.
In the win over Gloversville, Wiltey was 2-for-3 with a double, a run and a walk. Samples was 2-for-4 with a triple and Breyo doubled. Joe Wojcik was 1-for-1 with three walks and two stolen bases. The Huskies' Joey LaPorta doubled.
Palumbo said winning the season-ending tournament in the small league, made up of four local teams, was nice because of the familiarity with the other programs.
"All the kids know each other and all the coaches know each other," he said. "We're good friends and it's a good way to end the season."
Fonda-Fultonville 10, Broadalbin-Perth 7
Broadalbin-Perth 310 020 1 - 7 7 1
Fonda-Fultonville 012 214 x - 10 6 6
Breyo, Samples (4), Rogers (6) and Schur; Hall, Hart (5) and Hanson, Hall (5).
