By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Tournament MVP Gwen DiIorio recovered from a shaky fourth inning, and Waterloo softball (20-2) rallied to defeat top-seeded Wayland-Cohocton (20-1), 10-7 in the Section V Class B1 championship game, Friday night at Gates Chili High School.
After surrendering a grand slam off the bat of Ava Senka, DiIorio retired 10 of the last 14 batters she faced.
The ninth-grader credited her head Larry Lang with helping her to refocus.
“The stress is insane being on a mound, especially in a final game, she said. “Having a coach that knows how to calm me down so well means a lot to me.”
It also helped that the Tigers’ responded the next inning. Trailing 6-2, Waterloo sent 12 to the plate in the fifth inning.
“It was insane,” DiIorio said. “That brought all the energy so far up. That got everyone in the dugout hype. It was, like, the whole energy just shifted.”
Emily Moran led with a walk, and one-out later Gwyn Panek homered to centerfield to scoring.
Alexis Godley drove in another run with an infield single. Olivia James provided the go-ahead RBI with single through the right side of the infield.
Two more runs scored when Panek reached on an error. Tangel Williams capped the inning with a run-scoring single.
The Tigers had a lead they didn’t surrender at 10-6.
“We’ve been the comeback kids all year long,” Lang said. “I said, ‘this is our inning,’ and it’s so ironic because every time I have done that this year, we’ve come out and scored five, six, seven, eight, like we did tonight.”
The Waterloo was 11th straight for Waterloo which also won sectional titles in 2022, ‘19 and ‘10.
“I remember being little and going and watching these games and praying that I would one day be on that field,” DiIrio said. “Now I am, and we just won a sectional title. That’s awesome.”
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