By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Greece Athena Baseball enjoyed success near the turn of the century. Starting in 1999, the Trojans won sectional titles in three of four years. Another championship came in 2007.
Then there were near misses in 2013 and ‘14 along with three straight championship game losses heading into the 2023 season.
Fourteen years had passed since Athena last raised a championship block.
That drought came to an end Saturday afternoon at Innovative Field in downtown Rochester.
Athena (18-5) sent nine to the plate in a five-run first and added pairs of runs in the second and third on the way to a convincing 11-4 victory over top-seeded Churchville-Chili in the 2023 Section V Class A1 championship.
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“We’ve been to a couple of these now to finally get one means the world, man,” said senior catcher Riley Catena who drove in two runs with a single in Athena’s first-inning outburst. “It’s awesome. Great feeling.”
With the win, Athena avenged a loss from earlier in the season and claimed the seventh sectional title in program history.
“It’s unreal,” Catena said. “We’ve been to four straight (championship games) now. To finally get one is awesome. There are no words to describe it.”
Jaden Madrid worked a walk to lead off the game. Sammy Saucke followed with a single over the outstretched glove of Churchville shortstop, Braedon Reina.
Derrick Allen beat out a bunt for a single. Madrid took advantage of an error on the play to score the game’s first run. Catena followed with his first of two hits on the day.
“The approach was to jump on them early,” he said. “Get the bat on the ball and that’s what I did. First-pitch swinging and somehow I got a great hop over there and scored two. I was hunting a first-pitch fastball.”
Nate Hall added an RBI triple, and Caleb Mitchell capped the frame with a run-scoring single.
The runs were enough for Tournament MVP Connor Osier who fell one batter short of a complete game when he exceeded the state-mandated pitch count rules.
“We came out and jumped on them,” Osier said. “That’s all she wrote.”
The junior right-hander struck out 10. He bounced back after a rough third inning when he struggled to find the strike zone, and Churchville took advantage for four runs.
“He knew where to go this time,” second-year head coach Tim Sova said referring to last season’s loss in the sectional championship. “Last year he kinda fell apart mentally and emotionally. This year he had a plan. He was ready to go. I’m so proud of him for being able to do that.”
“I had to come in here and talk to my coach,” he said motioning to the dugout. “Had to calm down a little. I went back out and settled in.
“I had to sit down more with my back half. I was too straight up and missing high.”
Osier and his teammates used frustrations from the past two years to fuel the championship run.
“We had all the finalists medals from the last two years,” the 6-foot5 starter said. “We brought them every game. Used that as motivation.”
The Trojans will play Class A2 Champion Honeoye Falls-Lima in the regional qualifier on Tuesday.
“We kinda said you can’t worry about the past, worry about this year,” Sova said. “I think everybody still had it in the back of their heads that we’ve been here and we haven’t been able to get it done. It feels good to get that one.”
Allen was 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Saucke singled, walked twice and scored two runs. Sam Butera went 2-for-3.
Churchville’s Reina singled, walked twice and scored a run. Cooper Romich was 1-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored. Josh Campbell and Michael Sardou also crossed home for the Saints.
Churchville (17-6) defeated Athena, 7-1 when the two teams met in early April.
“Of course, you got to mention it for sure,” Catena said of the loss. “But we kinda put it behind us. We knew we were going to get this one today.”
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