By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — Both regular season meetings between Cottreall-Warner Post 942 and Chili Post 1830 were decided with late-inning runs, so it was only fitting that the two teams needed a deciding Game 3 in the championship.
That the tying and go-ahead runs were on base when the final out was made only added to the script.
Chase Sackett turned in his longest outing of the season on the mound, and Nick Rene helped pace a 14-hit attack as Cottreall-Warner clinched the 2025 American Legion District 7 title with a 7-5 victory, Saturday afternoon at Penfield High School.
“It feels great,” said Rene, who was named series MVP after he collected six hits and reached base eight times over the three games. “The whole season we’ve been battling. We all had a feeling from the get-go that we had a chance to go out and win it. We came out and took care of business.”
Rene sparked a four-run second with a two-out RBI single that scored teammate Garrett McNeil. Tyler Estelle followed with a two-run triple, and Cottreall-Warner had a lead it did not surrender.
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“I’ve always been an aggressive hitter,” said Estelle who went 2-4 with two runs scored. “I was looking to do damage early. I got a pitch that I wanted. I sat back on it and just drove the other way.”
Earlier in the week, they faced elimination after dropping Game 1 of the semifinals to Ely Fagan. On Saturday, Cottreall-Warner (17-5) stared down a similar win-or-go-home situation after losing Game 1 of the championship series on Friday to Chili Post (14-9), 4-1.
“Losing Game 1 lit a fire under us,” said Rene who went 2-for-3 with a walk in Game 3. “Once we won Game 2, we had all the momentum going into Game 3. I felt like we were in a good spot.”
Cottreall-Warner scored two runs in the fourth and another in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead into the seventh.
“The game against Ely Fagan Tuesday night was a gut punch,” said C-W head coach, Gary McNeil. “We relied on that. We told the guys that you took a gut punch on Tuesday, and you came back. You had to win an elimination game. Last night was another gut punch.
“Taking it one game at a time, we knew whoever was left would give us everything they had. That’s how it played out.”
Sackett had thrown a total of seven innings over four outings prior to Saturday. In the deciding game of the championship, he pitched into the seventh.
“He was keeping them off-balance, throwing enough strikes to be effective,” McNeil said of the left-hander. “Working to contact and letting his defense do the job. ‘Sack’ has been there over the years when we’ve needed him to pitch big games, so it’s kinda in his makeup. We had a ton of confidence that even though he hasn’t pitched a ton for us, that he would be there in the end and do what we needed him to do.”
Sackett allowed five runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks.
“It was pretty easy for me,” he said. “I wanted to put it over the plate, and I would like to say that I have best defense in District 7, so all props go to the defense. There really wasn’t too much work on the mound.”
In the series opener on Friday, Cottreall-Warner took a 1-0 lead in the fifth before Chili Post tied the game in the sixth on an Aaron Reina two-out single that drove in Bobby Rule Jr.
Josh Miner and Alex Spezzano had an RBI single apiece in the ninth when Chili scored three times and won 4-1.
Cottreall-Warner took Game 2 earlier on Saturday, 6-5.
Dylan Dumont struck out seven over six innings to pick up the win. The right-hander allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks. Alex Grejda worked a scoreless seventh for the save.
Trailing 7-4 in the seventh, Spezzano drew a walk to lead the inning for Chili Post. Aaron Reina singled, and Parker Farnham reached on a single to load the bases and put the go-ahead run aboard.
Connor Smith came out of the bullpen and got the final three outs to register a save.
“It was great for Smitty,” McNeil said. “He had a tough outing the other night, so for him to bounce back and get last three outs was awesome.
“Chili Post is awesome. Our group has probably played them 25 times since 8 and under (travel tournaments). Every game they never give up. They’re going to come at you and keep coming at you.”
The game was the seventh in six days for both teams.
C-W, playing in its 11th game over a 12-day stretch, clinched a spot in the NYS tournament that will be hosted at Rochester Institute of Technology from July 26th-31st.
“It takes a lot over the last seven to eight weeks to come together as a team,” McNeil said. “It’s a big roster that has a lot of sacrifice involved – a lot of seniors, a lot of graduation parties, a lot of conflicts (in schedules), to put that aside and come together and have a special Legion season is difficult to do. These guys deserve all the credit for sacrificing for one another. That’s what Legion is about – playing for the veterans and the posts. These guys got that.”
Sam Nick, Grejda, Owen Andreatta and Dumont had two hits apiece in Game 3.
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