By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Weston Elkovitch admitted he was feeling the pressure of the moment when he awoke on Sunday morning.
In just a few hours, the senior left-hander knew he would be starting on the mound for the Victor Blue Devils in the Section V Class AA championship baseball game at Innovative Field, and he totally understood the magnitude of the showdown with Greece Athena.
Having been among the standard-bearers for Section V baseball excellence for the past 15 years, the Blue Devils hadn’t won a championship since 2018. This after rattling off four in a row, from 2011-2014, and piling up 11 in school history. Only two other programs had won more championship blocks.
Adding to the anxiety for Elkovitch: back-to-back title game losses, to McQuaid in 2022 and to Fairport last spring.
And now standing between Victor and the end of a championship drought was third-seeded Athena, which had outscored three sectional opponents 30-11 to reach the finals.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JENNIFER LAEMLEIN.
“Greece Athena’s a great team, a great hitting team, a great pitching team,” Elkovitch said.
All of that meant the 11 a.m. start time couldn’t come soon enough. The nerves were a little too much to deal with so early in the day.
“I had no appetite this morning,” Elkovitch said.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the biggest start of his career: the nerves almost instantly disappeared when he walked up on to the mound.
“It all died down as soon as I threw the first pitch,” Elkovitch said.
He then made sure the Athena bats died down as well. Elkovitch allowed just one run and struck out nine in pitching a complete-game four-hitter while also collecting three hits and four RBI at the plate as the Blue Devils rolled to an 11-1 victory.
“He was the true MVP today,” said Victor coach Sean Rucker, whose 19-5 team plays at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Far West Regional at Grand Island High School. “In the biggest moment, he showed up big.”
Indeed, Elkovitch helped quell a potential first-inning threat for the Trojans by picking off Sammy Saucke at first base with a slick lefty move and then triggered a three-run uprising in the bottom of the first with an RBI single. Jameson Ricigliano and Garrett Clar also delivered run-scoring singles off Athena ace Connor Osier before the inning ended and the Blue Devils had an instant 3-0 lead.
“When we get momentum, it’s hard to stop us,” Rucker said. “These boys deserve it and I’m so happy for my coaching staff, they give, give give.”
Athena sliced the Victor lead to 3-1 in the third when Parker Goodness drew a two-out walk and scored on Saucke’s booming triple to the gap in left-center.
But the Blue Devils retaliated in the fourth with three more runs for a 6-1 lead. Elkovitch delivered the big hit, a two-out, two-run single.
They then made sure there could be no Athena rallying, scoring five times in the sixth for the 11-1 lead. Elkovitch had an RBI single to cap a 3-for-4 day at the plate that included four RBIs while senior catcher Andrew Stagnitto had a two-run single in the inning.
After Elkovitch pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, Victor players rejoiced.
“Losing two years in a row and then coming here and getting it done today, it’s so much better,” Elkovitch said.
The Blue Devils players couldn’t wait to get their hands on the championship block, either. This wasn’t so much a trophy presentation as it was a snatch-and-grab.
Section V baseball coordinator Jason Bunting had barely begun to move the trophy toward the Victor team when Stagnitto scooped it up and began a celebration with his teammates.
“We’ve worked our whole lives for this, all these kids, we’ve put so much time into this,” Stagnitto said. “It’s just amazing. I can’t even think of how to say it.”
Of the seven innings, Elkovitch retired the Trojans in order four times and was in command throughout the game.
“He was the best he could be,” Stagnitto said.
For Athena (17-7), the loss ended dreams of back-to-back sectional titles. The Trojans won Class A last year, then moved up into the 17-team Class AA division for 2024.
“They were better than us today,” Athena coach Tim Sova said. “They keep the pressure on you and they don’t strike out a lot. But I’m proud of this team.”
Victor, meanwhile, moves into the state quarterfinals and, with a victory on Saturday, would earn a trip to Binghamton for the Final Four.
“We’re not finished, we want to win states as well,” Elkovitch said. “That would mean a lot to us.”
Class AA: Weston Elkovitch helps his cause with a one-out single in the first to start the scoring. Mitch Schalberg scores on the play. @vshsbaseball 1-0 pic.twitter.com/PcrSAgknrg
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 26, 2024
Class AA: Jameson Ricigliano gives @vshsbaseball a 2-0 lead with a two-out RBI single. Weston Elkovitch scores on the play. Garrett Clar follows with a run-scoring single. pic.twitter.com/HJE7SNwdQo
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 26, 2024
Leave a Reply