Pittsford Sutherland rolls past Greece Athena for Section V Class A2 baseball crown

James Johnson, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
·3 min read

Pittsford Sutherland baseball players practice making plays in pressure situations.

"Even our batting practices, I have a whole situation round where they have to be perfect through it," Sutherland coach Brandon DeRosa said.

"We are constantly doing situations like that, where we do full-speed, game-like to emulate a sectional game or a moment like that in a game. They are doing a great job."

While playing for a Section V championship can get tense, the Knights turned the Class A2 Tournament final into a rout Tuesday, defeating Greece Athena 14-2 at Monroe Community College.

Athena, the tournament's No. 6 seed, finished with a 14-10 record.

Start of parade on basepaths

The No. 5 seed Sutherland Knights (16-7) began rolling after a two-run, triple with two outs by senior Jake Fekete in the bottom of the first inning.

Pittsford Sutherland sophomore Paul Byrne, shown here pitching during the regular season, pitched five of seven innings and was named Most Valuable Player during the sectional finals.
Pittsford Sutherland sophomore Paul Byrne, shown here pitching during the regular season, pitched five of seven innings and was named Most Valuable Player during the sectional finals.

By the numbers

4 - Total runs batted in by Fekete, one of Sutherland's team captains.

3 - Number of Section V championships won by the Knights since 2017.

5 - Innings pitched by Paul Byrne, a right-handed pitcher in his sophomore season at Sutherland. Byrne was named the Most Valuable Player of the game.

1 - Number of earned runs Athena scored with Byrne on the mound.

6 - Athena batters struck out by Byrne

6 - Sutherland's winning streak, including three postseason games.

14 - Hits by the Knights, the second-highest single-game total for the team this season. Sutherland had 25 hits during the quarterfinal round.

Hot Sutherland bats

Jack Zawacki: 3 for 5, two RBI

Cole Mann: 2 for 5, with a home run, three RBI

Alex Renzi: 3 for 4, three runs scored

Cole Pringle: 2 for 4

They said it

"We been really turning it on offensively, as of the last couple of weeks. Guys have been barreling up balls, left and right. We always say make adjustments pitch by pitch, not just at-bat to at-bat, and that's what they've been doing." - Sutherland coach Brandon DeRosa

"We knew we were going to see them (the Greece Athena Trojans) in the final." - Pittsford Sutherland sophomore Paul Byrne.

"Everyone on the team just wanted to win, there was a lot of energy. We lost to Athena in a tough battle early in the season. We needed to prove to them, to ourselves, to our parents that we were the better baseball team." - Sutherland senior Jake Fekete

What's next

The Knights will prepare for another postseason game, a playoff against Class A1 champion Webster Thomas on Thursday, 5 p.m. at Greece Olympia.

The winner advances to the regional round of the state tournament, and plays Hamburg, the Buffalo region Class A champion, noon Saturday at Grand Island High.

Noah Littlefield, Thomas Carter or Tyler Mullin will start the regional game on the pitcher's mound for Sutherland.

(check back to see updates to this story)

JAMESJ@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Pittsford Sutherland routs Greece Athena for Section V baseball title