Salmon River stops OFA Baseball Run

The offense wasn’t the only thing the Shamrocks had going for them on the day, as pitcher Caiden Cartier put together a one-hitter over four innings in the winning effort.

body text: “We made a bunch of mistakes, and they can hit well. They deserve the championship,” Ogdensburg head coach Brooks Brenno said. “They played great. The pitcher shut us right down, so there’s not much else we could do.”

Cartier started off red hot with two strike outs and then forced a fly-out to left field to retire the first three OFA batters. The Shamrocks then took advantage of a dropped third strike to score their first run, and senior Evan Collette drove in two more with a clean shot into left field to make it 3-0 Salmon River after the first.

Cartier continued to dominate, striking out five of the first seven batters he faced while only allowing a single hit, a long double from Ogdensburg junior Seth Sholette, through the first two innings. Salmon River’s Jared Rollins stole home in the bottom of the second to increase the lead.

Freshman Haydin McDonald smacked a bouncing ball right through Shamrock shortstop Kade Cook’s glove to try and spark the Blue Devil offense in the top of the third, but Cartier dealt two more strikeouts and forced another fly-out to left to stop any momentum. The Shamrocks then put together their biggest offensive inning , starting with a grounder from Bronson Bero that scored a run. Cartier ripped a grounder into the outfield to score two, and Rollins punched another run in immediately after. Luke Miller added his second RBI of the day to extend the Shamrock lead to 9-0 before Ogdensburg managed to turn a double play and get back to the batter’s box.

Lucca Labella managed to make it to second on the Blue Devils first plate appearance of the fourth after Salmon River third baseman Rick Chatland overshot a throw to first, but that was all the Ogdensburg offense could manage the Shamrock defense held on to retire the next three hitters. Collette scored the first of three runs in the fourth inning on a dropped third strike. Shamrock sophomore Dylan Johnson then blasted a triple that brought Ryan Oakes home. A Miller single to shallow right would score the final run of the inning to make it 12-0. Cartier struck out two and Bero corralled a leaping ball up the first base line to complete the shutout in the fifth.

“This team, Ogdensburg, deserves a lot of credit,” Tim Cook added. “They’ve beaten everybody. They beat Lisbon, they beat Canton a couple of times, they had a really good run.

“We just came out and we clicked today. Cartier was awesome. You could see he really wanted it in that fifth inning. He really tuned it up there.”

“You just can’t give up outs to a team like that,” added Brenno. “They’re going to make you pay.”

Cartier struck out 10 batters while throwing a one-hitter and drove in two runs to lead the Shamrocks. Miller finished with 3 RBI, while Collette drove in two runs. Rollins went 2-2 and drove in a run, while Chatland and Bero each added a hit and an RBI.

Seth Sholette struck out three batters in two and a third innings on the mound for the Blue Devils. Sholette’s double provided Ogdensburg’s only hit on the day.

Salmon River will represent Section 10 in the state playoffs when they travel to Park Terrace Elementary School in Gloversville on June 1 to face the Section Two champion. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Section 10 Playoffs

Baseball

Class B Championship

At St. Lawrence University

Salmon River vs. Ogdensburg

OFA 000 00 – 0 1 2

Salmon River 315 3x – 12 8 2

Cartier (W) and Lewis. T. Sovie (L), Sholette and D. Sovie. 2B- Sholette (O),

Records: Salmon River (12-2), Ogdensburg (6-8).