By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
When Hudson Lazenby walked onto the mound at ESL Ballpark on Saturday morning, he was stepping into the ultimate in pressure situations.
Top of the seventh in the Section V Class A championship game, bases loaded, two outs, and a one-run lead with the Honeoye Falls-Lima leadoff hitter coming up.
When Lazenby peered to his right, he saw Austin Coyle on third base, representing the tying run. When he glanced behind, there was Marshall Adams on second base as the potential go-ahead run. With a look to his left, he saw Andrew Cook on first base.
Talk about pressure. Or not.
“Not at all,” Lazenby said. “Not for pitching.”
Three pitches and three strikes later, the junior right-hander and his teammates were celebrating a 2-1 victory and a sectional title, the Knights’ 13th since 2005.
“This is so awesome,” Lazenby said. “It’s everything I’ve thought of since playing Little League.”
Lazenby closed out a game in which pitchers were dominant from the outset. Sutherland starter Chase Dermody was masterful, allowing one run and six hits while striking out 11 in his six-plus innings.
Cougars starter Jacob Weber was perhaps even better, yielding just three hits and one walk while fanning 11 in his six innings.
But the Knights (18-5) managed to score twice in the bottom of the second – sandwiched between three strikeouts – and those two runs were all they needed. Sixth-seeded HFL finished 12-11.
Sutherland junior Iwan Taylor-Casamayor drew a one-out walk and scored when freshman Max Kress, Sutherland’s No. 7 hitter, boomed a triple to the fence in right field. Kress then scored when a balk was called on Weber.
The youngest player in the Sutherland lineup had come up with the biggest hit.
“The last couple games I’ve been struggling but I knew I had to be there for my team when they needed me,” Kress said.
It was a memorable moment for sure.
“Especially at Red Wings field,” Kress said. “It was just a great day to go smash a baseball.”
Given the early lead, Dermody seemingly was pitching on cruise control for six innings. He had allowed just four hits, struck out nine and only once did a runner from Honeoye Falls-Lima reach second base.
Section V’s Class A Player of the Year was simply adding to a resume of exceptional performances this spring.
“I’m so proud of Chase,” Sutherland coach Brandon DeRosa said. “He’s been on varsity four years and this is kind of the icing on the cake.”
When Dermody encountered trouble in the seventh, Lazenby slammed the door shut. He had warmed up in the bottom of the sixth when Sutherland was at-bat, aware he could be summoned to close it out.
“I knew if Chase got into any trouble, I was coming in,” Lazenby said.
His approach to facing Owen Kearney wasn’t complicated. “Just go right at them. You gotta go win it.”
Said Dermody: “Hudson definitely took charge.”
The one-run-lead, game-on-the-line moment was nothing new to Lazenby. He entered in the fifth inning of the previous sectional games (the 1-0 quarterfinal win over Batavia) and the 5-4 semifinal victory over Geneva) and slammed the door both times.
“We knew we had Hudson ready to go and Hudson has been lights out,” DeRosa said.
While Sutherland had earned the No. 1 seed, winning the title was by no means easy. All three playoff games were one-run victories.
For Kress, winning a title meant he could celebrate with his older brother, senior Aidan, the catcher. While he had played on the same team as his brother in U10 baseball, this was their last chance to win a sectional title together.
“I wanted to win this with my brother,” Max said.
There may still be more winning to do, however. Sutherland will play the Section VI champion at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Frontier High School in Hamburg in the regional play-in game. The winner comes to ESL Ballpark on Friday for the state quarterfinals.
“Our first goal is winning a sectional championship every year and now (the goal) is getting to the state finals,” DeRosa said.
Leave a Reply