Tri-Valley Section 9 Champion

TRI-VALLEY WINS SECTION 9 CHAMPIONSHIP                                

  MARLBORO--They had to fight through rain for the first two innings, a controversial call which forced S.S. Seward head coach Bill Steele to state that the game was being played under protest but finally in a dramatic seventh inning rally the Tri-Valley Central School Bears threw the monkey off their back and won the 2012 Section 9 Class C championship  with a 2-1 victory over S.S. Seward Sunday afternoon on the Marlboro High School diamond. 

  The game originally scheduled Saturday at Pine Bush was postponed because of rain and wet grounds.

  The win for Tri-Valley is the first Section 9 championship since 1990.

  The game itself proved to be pretty much a pitchers duel between Tri-Valley's George Baggata and Seward's Anthony Bailey.

  S.S. Seward scored early to two take a 1-0 lead. In the third inning Bears short-stop Rodney Jester scorched a long double to center field, took third base on a pitch in the dirt and scored on an infield ground ball to even the score at 1-1. 

   Then came a controversial call by home plate umpire Cliff Hamlin in which Baggata started his windup and before he could throw the pitch Seward batter Joe Pillmeir stepped out of the batters box without calling for time. 

  Hamlin called a strike indicating that the batter did not call for time and that the situation called for an automatic strike call. 

  Seward coach Steele disputed the call with Hamlin and then walked over to Tri-Valley coach John Rusin to tell him he was putting the game under protest. Umpire Hamlin instructed scorekeepers to indicate in the scorebook that the game was being playing under protest.

  Shortly after the umpire's request Coach Rusin called for the Section 9 official in attendance and the umpires to settle the issue at this point in the game. After some lengthy discussions and reading of the rule book it was determined that the ruling on the play would be "no pitch" with meant the strike call would not be recorded and the game resumed with no protest. 

  In the top half of the seventh inning Seward lead-off hitter Joe Pillmeier hit a single to right center and stole second base. He was stranded on second base after strong pitching by Baggata and a line drive caught by third baseman Joey Mickelson.

  Mickelson led off the Bears bottom half of the seventh inning with a double, took third base when Seward's catcher dropped the ball on a low pitch and scored when Baggata hit a fly ball over a drawn-in Seward outfield. 

  Baggata pitched the full seven innings giving up four hits and recorded seven strikeouts. Losing pitcher Anthony Bailey recorded eight strikeouts, allowed one walk, five hits and two runs.

  The winning pitcher remembers well last years Section 9 championship game also against Seward when the Bears held a seven-run lead over Seward in the bottom of the seventh when Seward stormed back with eight runs to win the title 8-7. 

  Baggata was on the mound in that game and gave up five of the Seward runs......a couple of outfield and infield errors didn't help Tri-Valley in that inning.

  A big pat on the back goes out to George Baggata who prior to the start of this season had medical problems with his back and even some concern that he might not be able to play in this his senior year if his back wasn't healed.

  To reach this championship game Tri-Valley ace pitcher Joey Mickelson last Thursday fired a two-hitter and struck out eight as the Bears defeated Chester 1-0. The only run came in the second inning when Tyler Lopez singled, stole second and scored on an RBI by Steve McInerney.

  Tri-Valley was to have traveled to Pace University in Pleasantville (Westchester County) Monday afternoon to play Section 1 champion Haldane in a 4 p.m. contest. The game was postponed due to rain and wet grounds and will be played Tuesday at the same location and same time.  Results of that contest will be Friday's edition. 

                                                          

Identification of pictures from top to bottom

Tri-Valley Bears Pitcher George Baggata pitching in Sunday's 2-1 win over S.S. Seward which gave the Bears the 2012 Section 9 Class C championship. Baggata also had the walk-off winning hit in the bottom of the seventh inning.                                                                  

Tri-Valley Bears short-stop Rodney Jester slashes a big double that eventually resulted in a run to tie the game at 1-1 Sunday at Marlboro.                                                  

The Section 9 Class C championship plaque is proudly held by the Tri-Valley Central School baseball team which defeated S.S. Seward 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Marlboro.