Storm supremacy: Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour captures Section 4 Class C baseball title

A Storm surge at the perfect time of year reached its peak Friday afternoon as the sixth-seeded Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour baseball team captured its first Section 4 championship with a 6-4 victory over Bainbridge-Guilford in the Class C final at Union-Endicott High School.

The triumph followed a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over third-seeded Unatego and a 12-8 semifinal win against second-seeded Interscholastic Athletic Conference Small School champion Thomas A. Edison. Bainbridge-Guilford, the ninth seed, had its own impressive postseason run going that included a quarterfinal defeat of top-seeded Trumansburg.

Watkins Glen/O-M entered the postseason with six consecutive losses, the majority of them close contests.

"We knew this could happen. We knew we could go further in the tournament than people gave us credit for," said Storm head coach Jason Westervelt, a former three-sport star athlete at O-M. "The No. 6 seed was a nice spot for us, but the first win against Unatego really sparked these guys and their confidence. Then going into Edison we were flying high and ready to go. That was a massive win.

"So coming in here we had tons of confidence, tons of energy. We never got down. It was hard to come back when you got down two runs, but these guys never quit."

Talking title

Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour has had a combined baseball program since 2016. Said winning pitcher Daniel Lewis of the first sectional baseball title for either school district since O-M took the 2007 Class D crown: "I just want to thank my team, coaching, with coach Westervelt driving us the whole time and allowing us to get this far."

Stars of the Game

Lewis, who will play collegiately at Alfred State, pitched the first 6 1/3 innings before reaching the New York state postseason limit of 125 pitches. The senior right-hander gave up five hits and only one of the four B-G runs was earned on a day the teams combined for eight errors. Lewis struck out eight and walked five. Brad Gillis came on for the final two outs.

On Monday, Lewis struck out 10 in a two-hitter against Unatego. Westervelt praised his pitching staff as one of the best in the IAC.

"I think he battled through some nerves at the beginning," Westervelt said. "Couldn't find the strike zone right away, but then he gets better as he goes and he's got a killer arm. They're lucky the 125-pitch count is the pitch count because he could probably go 140 or 150."

Lewis, who said he still felt strong when he reached his pitch limit, credited increased velocity on his fastball gained during the offseason with helping him this season. His change-up was an effective pitch Friday.

Brady Cannon had four of Odessa-Montour's six hits, scored two runs and had the team's only RBI.

More: Section 4 baseball 2023 tournament seeds, schedule, game information

Defensive turning point

After Cannon scored the Storm's first run on a wild pitch to cut the Bobcats' lead to 2-1 in the fourth, Bainbridge-Guilford loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Westervelt came out for a brief conversation with Lewis and the defense. Lewis responded by striking out the next two batters.

"It was basically just throw strikes," Lewis said of his approach. "We can get out of this. If we get past this hitter we’re fine."

Said Westervelt: "I just wanted to calm him down, slow him down a little bit. He has a tendency to rush when he's feeling the pressure a little bit. Let the infield know we're in good shape and need to settle down and play our game."

Offensive turning point

Bainbridge-Guilford righty Nolan Hawkins kept the Storm off balance the first time through the order. Things unraveled in the fifth after Lewis was hit by a pitch and Alex Holmes doubled.

Lewis scored the tying run on a wild pitch and Cannon beat the throw to first to drive in Holmes on a slow grounder to second for the go-ahead run.

Cannon made it a 4-2 game on another wild pitch. Two more runs came home when Hawkins threw the ball away after trying to catch Ben Heichel at third. Gillis followed behind for a 6-2 lead.

Lewis was confident the offense would get going given the quality bats and speed for the Storm. Westervelt told his guys to remain patient.

"Our philosophy today was make them make plays," Westervelt said. "Get the ball in play and make them make plays. That’s exactly what we did. We didn’t have any big shots or huge hits, but the hits we had produced runs and we ran the bases very well and we made them make plays, which always leads to an errant throw or something like that."

Up Next

Watkins Glen/O-M (11-9) will face the to-be-determined Section 3 champion in a regional final/state quarterfinal June 3. Potential sites are Binghamton's Mirabito Stadium and Maine-Endwell High School.

The Bobcats finished with a 12-9 record.

Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today

This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Watkins Glen/O-M defeated B-G in Section 4 Class C baseball final