A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage
Cortland’s Ethan Johnson pitching against Bishop Grimes in the first round of the Section III Class B playoff tournament. (Photo provided by Timothy A. Bennett, Owner & Publisher of The Cortland Voice).
The No.4 seeded Cortland Purple Tigers defeated No.13 seeded Bishop Grimes with a score of 9-1 in the first round of the Section III Class B playoff tournament Tuesday evening.
With this win, Cortland has moved on to the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
This is Cortland’s first time playing in the Class B tournament. Last year, the Purple Tigers competed and won the 2022 Section III Class A playoff tournament.
“We know it’s going to be competitive. So we talked about playing our game, and controlling what we can control”, said Cortland head coach Ben Albright.
The Purple Tigers gained the upper hand after scoring three runs in the opening inning of the game.
Cortland increased their lead after scoring six additional runs in the third inning to make it 9-0.
With not much room for a comeback, Bishop Grimes’ only run of the game was scored in the last inning.
When asked about his thoughts of the game, coach Albright said, “We were throwing strikes. Ethan (Johnson) did a great job with that. They (Bishop Grimes) didn’t get that run until later (in the game). Throwing strikes and scoring first is always huge, so I was happy to see that. The kids played solid defense all around, and that usually equals a win.”
“One down, and we will see how far we can get. This is fun baseball,” added coach Albright.
Here is a score breakdown of the game:
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | Runs | Hits | Errors |
| Bishop Grimes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Cortland | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 9 | 12 | 1 |
Cortland was led by Andrew Partigianoni (1 run, 3 hits & 2 RBI’s), Ethan Johnson (1 run, 2 hits, 2 RBI’s & 5 strikeouts thrown), Caden Albright (2 runs, 1 hit & 1 RBI), Tyler Gilbert (1 run, 1 hit & 1 RBI), Cal Albright (1 run, 1 hit & 1 RBI), Luke Rogoff (2 hits & 1 RBI), Danny Jackson (1 run & 1 hit), Robbie Atkins (1 hit & 1 RBI), and Christopher Yang (1 run).
Bishop Grimes was led by Brett Helmer (1 run & 1 hit), Avery Pankow (1 hit & 1 RBI), Bruno Kinsey (1 hit), Jon Farstler (1 hit), Aaron Nuzzo (1 hit), Owen Tierney (2 strikeouts thrown), and Frank Sgroi (1 strikeout thrown).
According to Cortland’s athletics website, the Purple Tigers are scheduled to host the quarterfinal round of the sectional tournament against No.5 seeded Camden. The game will be played at the Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex this Thursday (May 25th) at 5pm.
Here are some photos from Tuesday’s game (photos provided by Timothy A. Bennett, Owner & Publisher of The Cortland Voice):
A special thank you goes to Visions Federal Credit Union for partnering with us to provide the greater Cortland County community with additional sports coverage
