Mission accomplished! Fox Lane wins Section 1 title championship

By JIM MACLEAN

Destiny was calling, and the Fox Lane varsity baseball team delivered.

For the 11 seniors on the Fox Lane roster, many of them starters since their sophomore year, this was their destiny three years in the making, on a mission all season long to get back to the finals and finish the job. They made it to the semifinals as sophomores, lost in the finals last year, and this year they were determined to fulfill their destiny and walk away with a championship.

That destiny was fulfilled on Sunday, June 1, at SUNY Purchase, as Fox Lane pulled out a 4-2 victory over Mahopac in the Section 1 Class AA Championship game. They talked about it all year long, but they had to deliver on the field. When the final out was recorded, they were able to race on the field and celebrate with their banner and trophy as champions.

“A team of destiny, that’s what I feel,” said senior first baseman P.J. Stonsby, who drove in what proved to be the winning run. “This is awesome, we’ve been marinating this for three years. We got here last year and lost, but this year we got it done. I feed off of my teammates, we give each other energy, luckily I was able to come through today and everybody did, a team effort. For the seniors, this is just an amazing moment, and we’re not done yet, states are up next and we get to keep playing.”

For Fox Lane coach Matt Hillis, this was his 23rd season at the helm for the Foxes and he admits this senior class is something special. The Foxes have been one of the top programs in the section for a long time and always seem to be in the hunt, but this was the first Section 1 title for the Foxes and Hillis since 2006. After coming so close last year, Hillis knew this team was capable of winning it all.

“They’ve had a magical run, as sophomores getting to the semis, as juniors they came up one game short, and I could not be happier for them,” Hillis said of his seniors. “They set the example every day in practice working their butts off. They earned it and this is just an awesome feeling.”

Fox Lane had a chance to wrap up the title on Saturday as the Foxes hosted Mahopac in the first game of the championship weekend. Fox Lane senior Will Rudolph was on the mound and he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning of a scoreless tie in a pitchers’ duel with Mahopac’s Nick Masciarelli before the Wolf Pac was able to pull out a 1-0 victory to force the final game on Sunday.

Fox Lane had its chances with runners on base in five innings, but the Foxes were unable to push across a run. Rudolph had a lead off single in the fourth inning, and Stonsby drilled a long double in the fifth inning. Cooper Furst and Jono Diorio also had hits for the Foxes.

Rudolph knew his team was ready to bounce back after the tough loss on Saturday to get the job done.

“This is what we’ve been working for since we’ve been playing Fox Lane baseball, it’s always been our goal and coming into this year after last year this was our expectation and to get it done this is the best feeling in the world,” said Will Rudolph. “It was an upsetting loss yesterday, but we knew this was something we could accomplish. We came in today focused and got the job done.”

Sophomore Jackson Carroll was on the mound for Fox Lane on Sunday, and he would go the distance and earn MVP honors as the Foxes closed out the victory. Mahopac struck first to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but the Foxes answered right back in the top of the second inning to take control.

Andrew Diaz led off the rally with a single and he advanced to third on an error. Logan Mammola reached first as he was hit by a pitch, and Rudolph tied it up at 1-1 with an RBI single scoring Diaz. Stonsby then drilled a two-run double to give the Foxes a 3-1 lead.

“A lot of adrenaline running through, but I felt good, my pitches were working and I just had to throw strikes,” said Carroll. “A big win, a big game, nerves are going to be there, but you trust your teammates and know that if we can play our game we’ll come out with the win. Last year we lost here, but I knew we could get back here and win it.”

Diaz then added to the lead in the sixth inning, firing up his teammates as he drilled a home run over the left field fence to make it 4-2. It was his fourth hit of the day as he went 4-for-4 and scored a pair of runs to lead the way at the plate. Stonsby also had a big day as he had two hits, drove in two runs and also reached on a walk. Rudolph finished with a pair of hits and a run scored. Sean Singleton had two hits and Furst added one hit for the Foxes.

“Oh my God, to win this means so much to us, we’ve been wanting this ever since we lost last year,” admitted Diaz. “I just came up focused, tried to stay loose, and good things happen when you hit the ball hard. I saw it go over the fence and I was so excited. To get this win is huge, we’ll celebrate today, but we want to keep playing baseball together for as long as we can. Tomorrow’s a new day, back to practice and work hard and make good things happen.”

Fox Lane also got the job done in the field both games coming up with big plays to prevent runs from scoring. The Foxes had a pair of double plays to keep it scoreless in the first game, as Mahopac had a pair of runners tagged out at the plate by catcher Logan Mammola. In the second game, Logan Provost and Rudolph made several plays in the outfield on long drives, and the infield duo of shortstop John Czernyk and second baseman Danny Spolansky made plays to help Carroll in the field.

With the Section 1 title in hand, Fox Lane now moves on to the state tournament where the Foxes will travel to Long Island on Saturday, June 7, for the Regional championship game. Fox Lane had a bye for the first round and will play the winner of the Long Island championship between Section 8 and Section 11. The winner on Saturday would advance to the New York State Class AA final four on June 13-14 in Binghamton.