Ketcham’s road to a third straight Section 1 baseball title will need to go through the school across town.
The defending state champion Storm defeated Mamaroneck, 4-2, in Wednesday’s Class AAA semifinal to earn a spot in Saturday’s championship. Their opponent will be Wappingers district rival John Jay-East Fishkill, which rallied past second-seeded Arlington on the road, 8-7.
Ketcham powers past Mamaroneck
Owen Paino continued his late-season surge in his sixth varsity season. The senior crushed a tape-measure home run in the first inning, tying the game at 1-1. Ryan Mealy did the rest for Ketcham. The senior pitched a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts, allowing one earned run.
Paino reached three times and scored twice while Connor Durkin and Tyler Durkin each had two hits for Ketcham.
Will Plunkett drove in a run for Mamaroneck on an RBI double in the first.
John Jay-EF upsets Arlington
Right around the time Paino delivered his first inning home run at Ketcham, Shane Driscoll got the Patriots off in similar fashion. Driscoll hit the first pitch of the game ove the fence for a home run to start an eventful game between the rival programs.
Austin Seipp and Marc Cretara each drove in two runs for John Jay, which trailed 5-2 in the fourth before a five run rally changed the game. Freshman Anthony Batkay came in to the game in relief for the Patriots and held Arlington off the board.
Alex Jendras had two hits, two walks and two runs scored in the win.
Griffin White drove in two runs for Arlington.
Section 1 Class AAA Baseball Championship
No. 1 Ketcham (19-3) vs. No. 3 John Jay-EF (13-7-1)
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
Where: Purchase College
Watch Live: Game will stream on LocalLive
Tournament Bracket: Class AA Results
Season Results
Ketcham
John Jay-EF
