ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Bradford’s Matt Dougherty made Fillmore pay.
Fillmore intentionally walked Kyle Hunt to pitch to Dougherty with the bases loaded in the 10th inning. Dougherty lined a pitch into left field, sending unbeaten Bradford (13-0) to a 7-6 10-inning walk-off win in the Southwestern New York Men’s Baseball League title game Sunday. The hit scored John White, who reached on a throwing error.
Dougherty entered the game in the fifth inning when starting catcher B.J. Salerno injured his knee on a tag play at first base.
It was the second straight SWNY title for Bradford, which previously played in the Alle-Catt League. Cumulatively, Bradford has captured titles four of the last five years.
Joel Rosencrance earned the mound win in relief, pitching five innings, giving up one run, striking out six, walking two and allowing three hits. Casey Vincent started, scattering four hits, fanning five and walking five.
Bradford trailed 5-1 in the fifth inning, but plated three runs in the sixth inning and two in the seventh to knot the contest at 6-6.
Hunt contributed with a two-run double and two-run single. Rosencrance added an RBI-double.
“We came into the 2016 season fully expecting to see Fillmore in the championship game,” Bradford coach Cory Sudbrook said. “They have an entire team of college players including three pitchers with power arms throwing 85 mph-plus, which is hard to match in this league. The majority of our team is ex-college players who aren’t quite ready to hang the spikes up and ride off into the sunset, myself included.
“We were down 5-1 with only six outs remaining and had just lost our stud catcher to a knee injury. Most teams would have laid down and said this isn’t the year. That didn’t happen. Kyle and Joel came up huge with extra base hits to drive in runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
“That set the stage for Matt to deliver a walk-off single into left field to end one of the craziest baseball games I have ever been apart of. I’d like to thank our manager, Bob Matzner, our sponsors and our fans for an amazing 2016 season. We look forward to coming back next year to defend the title.”
For Fillmore, Ryan Chamberlain had a solo home run and Jonas Wilson an RBI double.
Bradford defeated Fillmore twice during the regular season.
Zach Lyman and Sam McCumisky pitched for Fillmore, combining to allow 10 hits, whiff nine and walk six.
