by TYLER HATHAWAY
NEWARK, NY — Final inning, two outs, tie game, and the winning run on third base.
That’s the moment that millions of young baseball players dream of finding themselves in one day. And with a trip to the state semifinals on the line, senior Damon Potter found himself in that spot. And according to Fillmore head coach Kaiden Bowers, Potter was perfect to face that challenge.
“He’s been such an important part of this program for the last three years,” said head coach Kaiden Bowers. “There’s nobody else I want on the mound or at the plate in those big situations. He just turns it up to another level.”
And just like those in dream scenarios spread across millions of childhoods, Potter delivered. He waited for his pitch, swung, and drove the ball through the gap in the middle infield, scoring teammate Jared Boon and putting Fillmore into the state final four.
“I pretty much knew he was coming at me with a fastball,” said Potter. “I just sat on it, then hit it down the middle.”
That RBI single gave the Eagles a 4-3 win over Section VI representative Franklinville in the Class D Far West Regional on Saturday. It’s the second time in program history, and first time since 2000, that Fillmore has won a state quarterfinal game.
“It feels good,” said Potter. “We’ve been waiting a long time.”
“It feels amazing,” Boon said about the win. “But there’s still more work to do.”
“There aren’t any words”, said Bowers. “It’s unbelievable. This has been such a ride.”
Boon, a ninth-grader, placed a one-out double into the grass in left-center field before getting moved over to third base thanks to flyball from James Hillman. And after watching Potter’s hit squeeze through the middle infield, he took off for home- with his coach running right after him.
“I just tried to turn on the ball, trust my hands, and drive it,” Boon said about his double.
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“He might be a freshman by age, but the way he prepares every single day is like a professional,” said Bowers. “He takes this game incredibly seriously and works at it both when he’s not at the field, and when he is at the field. I’m very fortunate to have a kid like that in my program for the next few years.”
It wasn’t just the bottom of the seventh inning that had drama. The top of the seventh saw Franklinville get two runners into scoring position before Boon, who came in to throw the final inning in relief, struck out back-to-back batters to get Fillmore out of trouble.
“Told myself just to execute,” said Boon. “Throw from my legs, not from my arms. Don’t worry about the runners, they’re not going anywhere. Just get the batters.”
Bowers came out to visit his young southpaw and the rest of his infield before those two pivotal strikeouts.
“Our whole mentality this year has just been pitch by pitch, and the rest will take care of itself,” Bowers said. “I just wanted to check in with him, check in with the infield to make sure everybody knew their assignments and just told them to play baseball. He [Boon] came through with a couple of huge pitches for us to get us out of that.”
Franklinville got out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning before Fillmore plated three runners in the second. Franklinville then brought a run across in both the third and fourth inning to knot the game at three.
“We didn’t play our best brand of baseball today,” said Bowers. “We’ve been in this situation like three times in the past week and a half and I had a good feeling that we could come through when it mattered. We hung in there, and it was surreal.”
The win came after Fillmore knocked off the top three seeds in the Section V Class D playoffs, including the defending NYS Class D champion, in a tournament that the Eagles entered as the No. 6 seed.
“We know our brand of baseball can compete when we play how we know we can play,” said Bowers. “Right now, the last few weeks, things have just been rolling for us. We have a lot of confidence, and when you have the confidence, it’s infectious. It’s all over the field.”
Potter, who was the Sectional MVP for Class D, got the start on the mound for the Eagles and tossed six innings. The right-hander struck out six batters. Liam McCumiskey had a two-RBI single and scored a run. Connor McCumiskey, Hillman, and Isaac Wilcox each singled. Avery Potter drew a pair of walks and came around to score once. Boon and Damon Potter each got on base once via a walk.
For Franklinville (13-7), Bretton Blecha was 3-for-3 with a drawn walk and two scored runs. Blecha started on the mound and struck out two batters over two innings. Matthew Spittler threw the final four and two third innings and struck out seven batters. At the plate, Spittler was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Isaac Towne had an RBI single and walked. Trevin Lane singled and scored. Nicholas Hillman walked twice, while Collin Mooney walked once.
“We have such a complete team here,” said Boon. “We’ve been building since day one, and we’re gonna keep going.”
Fillmore (15-7) advances to the NYS Class D semifinals this Friday in Binghamton, where it will face the winner of Oriskany (III) and Notre Dame Elmira (IV).
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