TROY - Seniors Dane O'Neil, Payton Stahler and Anthony Taylor were members of the 2009 basketball team that ended Canajoharie's sectional title drought that dated back to 1961.

Now they can add another title to their list of athletic achievements.

The Cougars picked up the first baseball sectional championship for Canajoharie in convincing fashion, defeating Chatham 7-0 to claim the Section II Class CC championship Tuesday.

"With the basketball team last year, that was so special, that was the first sectional thing I have ever won," O'Neil said. "This year, with this, to be out here on Joe Bruno [Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College], the nicest field I have ever been on, it is unreal. There are just so many quality baseball teams that I have been on, but this one is special. I had no idea we would make it this far. It is unreal, I don't want it to stop."

O'Neil carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Nick Shaw narrowly beat out his slow roller with one out in the sixth for what would be Chatham's lone hit of the game.

After the hit, the senior pitcher struck out five and walked two of the final seven batters he faced.

"My fastball in the first two or three innings was high," he said. "That last inning it was straight fastballs. I didn't want to mess around so I just chucked it as hard as I could. It was probably the hardest I have ever thrown and it paid off."

O'Neil finished the game with 14 strikeouts, while walking five. Behind him, the Cougars again played errorless ball.

"We capitalized on six errors and we come out, play errorless baseball and win again," Canajoharie coach Brent Watterson said. "This is the third game in a row we have played errorless baseball and have put the ball in play. This is my first time getting to the finals. We have been knocked out the last seven times in the semifinals the last seven years in a row."

The Cougars came out swinging in the bottom of the first.

Taylor opened the inning by legging out an infield single but was erased from the base paths on Zach Fleischer's fielder's choice. Stahler reached on the first of sixth Chatham errors in the game and O'Neil singled home Fleischer for a 1-0 lead. Joe Horning lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Stahler and put Canajoharie up 2-0.

O'Neil backed up his team's first-inning surge by striking out the side in the top of the second.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third.

Fleischer led off with a single and Horning doubled into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Panthers' third baseman Craig Hall bobbled then overthrew a grounder hit by Ryan Hodge, allowing Fleischer and Horning to score and Hodge to advance to second.

Hodge successfully stole third and came home for the third run of the inning when the throw to third sailed into left field to give the Cougars a 5-0 advantage.

Canajoharie tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Shannon singled and moved to second on an errant pick off attempt. Taylor picked up the RBI with his single for a 6-0 lead.

Canajoharie closed out its scoring in the bottom of the sixth.

Jake Tamsett worked his way on with a walk and Shannon was hit by pitch.

Taylor singled to load the bases before Fleischer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Tamsett for the 7-0 final score.

"These seven seniors [Fleischer, O'Neil, Brandon Smith, Stahler, Tamsett, Taylor and Seth Waite] have been with me since I brought them up when we went to Lake George four years ago," Watterson said. "I brought them up to watch and ended up putting two or three of them in the game then. I knew I had something special with this bunch."

Canajoharie will play Class C champion Greenwich in the Class C-CC playoff game Friday determine which team will advance to regional play and a chance at playing for a state championship.

Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Saratoga Springs.

Canajoharie 7, Chatham 0

Chatham000 000 0 - 0 1 6

Canajoharie203 101 x - 7 7 0

Young and Niles; O'Neil and Fleischer.

TROY - Seniors Dane O'Neil, Payton Stahler and Anthony Taylor were members of the 2009 basketball team that ended Canajoharie's sectional title drought that dated back to 1961.

Now they can add another title to their list of athletic achievements.

The Cougars picked up the first baseball sectional championship for Canajoharie in convincing fashion, defeating Chatham 7-0 to claim the Section II Class CC championship Tuesday.

"With the basketball team last year, that was so special, that was the first sectional thing I have ever won," O'Neil said. "This year, with this, to be out here on Joe Bruno [Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College], the nicest field I have ever been on, it is unreal. There are just so many quality baseball teams that I have been on, but this one is special. I had no idea we would make it this far. It is unreal, I don't want it to stop."

O'Neil carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Nick Shaw narrowly beat out his slow roller with one out in the sixth for what would be Chatham's lone hit of the game.

After the hit, the senior pitcher struck out five and walked two of the final seven batters he faced.

"My fastball in the first two or three innings was high," he said. "That last inning it was straight fastballs. I didn't want to mess around so I just chucked it as hard as I could. It was probably the hardest I have ever thrown and it paid off."

O'Neil finished the game with 14 strikeouts, while walking five. Behind him, the Cougars again played errorless ball.

"We capitalized on six errors and we come out, play errorless baseball and win again," Canajoharie coach Brent Watterson said. "This is the third game in a row we have played errorless baseball and have put the ball in play. This is my first time getting to the finals. We have been knocked out the last seven times in the semifinals the last seven years in a row."

The Cougars came out swinging in the bottom of the first.

Taylor opened the inning by legging out an infield single but was erased from the base paths on Zach Fleischer's fielder's choice. Stahler reached on the first of sixth Chatham errors in the game and O'Neil singled home Fleischer for a 1-0 lead. Joe Horning lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Stahler and put Canajoharie up 2-0.

O'Neil backed up his team's first-inning surge by striking out the side in the top of the second.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third.

Fleischer led off with a single and Horning doubled into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Panthers' third baseman Craig Hall bobbled then overthrew a grounder hit by Ryan Hodge, allowing Fleischer and Horning to score and Hodge to advance to second.

Hodge successfully stole third and came home for the third run of the inning when the throw to third sailed into left field to give the Cougars a 5-0 advantage.

Canajoharie tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Shannon singled and moved to second on an errant pick off attempt. Taylor picked up the RBI with his single for a 6-0 lead.

Canajoharie closed out its scoring in the bottom of the sixth.

Jake Tamsett worked his way on with a walk and Shannon was hit by pitch.

Taylor singled to load the bases before Fleischer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Tamsett for the 7-0 final score.

"These seven seniors [Fleischer, O'Neil, Brandon Smith, Stahler, Tamsett, Taylor and Seth Waite] have been with me since I brought them up when we went to Lake George four years ago," Watterson said. "I brought them up to watch and ended up putting two or three of them in the game then. I knew I had something special with this bunch."

Canajoharie will play Class C champion Greenwich in the Class C-CC playoff game Friday determine which team will advance to regional play and a chance at playing for a state championship.

Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Saratoga Springs.

Canajoharie 7, Chatham 0

Chatham000 000 0 - 0 1 6

Canajoharie203 101 x - 7 7 0

Young and Niles; O'Neil and Fleischer.

TROY - Seniors Dane O'Neil, Payton Stahler and Anthony Taylor were members of the 2009 basketball team that ended Canajoharie's sectional title drought that dated back to 1961.

Now they can add another title to their list of athletic achievements.

The Cougars picked up the first baseball sectional championship for Canajoharie in convincing fashion, defeating Chatham 7-0 to claim the Section II Class CC championship Tuesday.

"With the basketball team last year, that was so special, that was the first sectional thing I have ever won," O'Neil said. "This year, with this, to be out here on Joe Bruno [Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College], the nicest field I have ever been on, it is unreal. There are just so many quality baseball teams that I have been on, but this one is special. I had no idea we would make it this far. It is unreal, I don't want it to stop."

O'Neil carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Nick Shaw narrowly beat out his slow roller with one out in the sixth for what would be Chatham's lone hit of the game.

After the hit, the senior pitcher struck out five and walked two of the final seven batters he faced.

"My fastball in the first two or three innings was high," he said. "That last inning it was straight fastballs. I didn't want to mess around so I just chucked it as hard as I could. It was probably the hardest I have ever thrown and it paid off."

O'Neil finished the game with 14 strikeouts, while walking five. Behind him, the Cougars again played errorless ball.

"We capitalized on six errors and we come out, play errorless baseball and win again," Canajoharie coach Brent Watterson said. "This is the third game in a row we have played errorless baseball and have put the ball in play. This is my first time getting to the finals. We have been knocked out the last seven times in the semifinals the last seven years in a row."

The Cougars came out swinging in the bottom of the first.

Taylor opened the inning by legging out an infield single but was erased from the base paths on Zach Fleischer's fielder's choice. Stahler reached on the first of sixth Chatham errors in the game and O'Neil singled home Fleischer for a 1-0 lead. Joe Horning lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Stahler and put Canajoharie up 2-0.

O'Neil backed up his team's first-inning surge by striking out the side in the top of the second.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third.

Fleischer led off with a single and Horning doubled into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Panthers' third baseman Craig Hall bobbled then overthrew a grounder hit by Ryan Hodge, allowing Fleischer and Horning to score and Hodge to advance to second.

Hodge successfully stole third and came home for the third run of the inning when the throw to third sailed into left field to give the Cougars a 5-0 advantage.

Canajoharie tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Shannon singled and moved to second on an errant pick off attempt. Taylor picked up the RBI with his single for a 6-0 lead.

Canajoharie closed out its scoring in the bottom of the sixth.

Jake Tamsett worked his way on with a walk and Shannon was hit by pitch.

Taylor singled to load the bases before Fleischer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Tamsett for the 7-0 final score.

"These seven seniors [Fleischer, O'Neil, Brandon Smith, Stahler, Tamsett, Taylor and Seth Waite] have been with me since I brought them up when we went to Lake George four years ago," Watterson said. "I brought them up to watch and ended up putting two or three of them in the game then. I knew I had something special with this bunch."

Canajoharie will play Class C champion Greenwich in the Class C-CC playoff game Friday determine which team will advance to regional play and a chance at playing for a state championship.

Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Saratoga Springs.

Canajoharie 7, Chatham 0

Chatham000 000 0 - 0 1 6

Canajoharie203 101 x - 7 7 0

Young and Niles; O'Neil and Fleischer.

TROY - Seniors Dane O'Neil, Payton Stahler and Anthony Taylor were members of the 2009 basketball team that ended Canajoharie's sectional title drought that dated back to 1961.

Now they can add another title to their list of athletic achievements.

The Cougars picked up the first baseball sectional championship for Canajoharie in convincing fashion, defeating Chatham 7-0 to claim the Section II Class CC championship Tuesday.

"With the basketball team last year, that was so special, that was the first sectional thing I have ever won," O'Neil said. "This year, with this, to be out here on Joe Bruno [Joseph L. Bruno Stadium at Hudson Valley Community College], the nicest field I have ever been on, it is unreal. There are just so many quality baseball teams that I have been on, but this one is special. I had no idea we would make it this far. It is unreal, I don't want it to stop."

O'Neil carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Nick Shaw narrowly beat out his slow roller with one out in the sixth for what would be Chatham's lone hit of the game.

After the hit, the senior pitcher struck out five and walked two of the final seven batters he faced.

"My fastball in the first two or three innings was high," he said. "That last inning it was straight fastballs. I didn't want to mess around so I just chucked it as hard as I could. It was probably the hardest I have ever thrown and it paid off."

O'Neil finished the game with 14 strikeouts, while walking five. Behind him, the Cougars again played errorless ball.

"We capitalized on six errors and we come out, play errorless baseball and win again," Canajoharie coach Brent Watterson said. "This is the third game in a row we have played errorless baseball and have put the ball in play. This is my first time getting to the finals. We have been knocked out the last seven times in the semifinals the last seven years in a row."

The Cougars came out swinging in the bottom of the first.

Taylor opened the inning by legging out an infield single but was erased from the base paths on Zach Fleischer's fielder's choice. Stahler reached on the first of sixth Chatham errors in the game and O'Neil singled home Fleischer for a 1-0 lead. Joe Horning lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score Stahler and put Canajoharie up 2-0.

O'Neil backed up his team's first-inning surge by striking out the side in the top of the second.

The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third.

Fleischer led off with a single and Horning doubled into the left-field corner to put runners on second and third with two outs.

Panthers' third baseman Craig Hall bobbled then overthrew a grounder hit by Ryan Hodge, allowing Fleischer and Horning to score and Hodge to advance to second.

Hodge successfully stole third and came home for the third run of the inning when the throw to third sailed into left field to give the Cougars a 5-0 advantage.

Canajoharie tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth. Matt Shannon singled and moved to second on an errant pick off attempt. Taylor picked up the RBI with his single for a 6-0 lead.

Canajoharie closed out its scoring in the bottom of the sixth.

Jake Tamsett worked his way on with a walk and Shannon was hit by pitch.

Taylor singled to load the bases before Fleischer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Tamsett for the 7-0 final score.

"These seven seniors [Fleischer, O'Neil, Brandon Smith, Stahler, Tamsett, Taylor and Seth Waite] have been with me since I brought them up when we went to Lake George four years ago," Watterson said. "I brought them up to watch and ended up putting two or three of them in the game then. I knew I had something special with this bunch."

Canajoharie will play Class C champion Greenwich in the Class C-CC playoff game Friday determine which team will advance to regional play and a chance at playing for a state championship.

Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Saratoga Springs.

Canajoharie 7, Chatham 0

Chatham000 000 0 - 0 1 6

Canajoharie203 101 x - 7 7 0

Young and Niles; O'Neil and Fleischer.

CANAJ

ALBANY - Behind a dominant pitching performance from Anthony Taylor and capitalizing on seven Hoosick Falls' errors, Canajoharie downed the second-seeded Panthers 7-2 in the Section II Class CC semifinals on Saturday night at Bleecker Stadium to advance to sectional finals for the first time in over a decade. After walking the leadoff man in the first inning and another runner reaching on an error, the Cougars looked like they may suffer the same fate as every other Canajoharie baseball team recently. "The first two batters are always my toughest to face," Taylor said. "But, I usually come back stronger after that." That turned out to be quite the understatement. Taylor got Hoosick Falls' Seth Foster to pop up a bunt attempt and Jake Colliano to ground out back to him for the first two outs and after that he was locked in. He ended the first inning threat by getting Mike Brewster to go down swinging and start a streak of six straight strikeouts for the senior right hander. "He threw well," Canajoharie coach Brett Watterson said. "He threw the best game I've ever seen him throw. When it came time to throw strikes, he was throwing him. He owned the five through nine hitters for them." Taylor improved to 15-3 in his career as a starter for the Cougars and carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before his counterpart on the mound, Cody LaFlamme ended it with a double down the left field line. "This morning I woke up and was feeling good," Taylor said. "But, it wasn't all about me. Our defense did absolutely great. Our offense got seven runs and against good pitching like we saw today, that's pretty good." Hoosick Falls coach Mike Lilac said that Taylor threw harder than he thought he would and admitted it had his hitters overwhelmed at times. "We thought we might be able to work the count on them a little bit and get Taylor to throw a lot of pitches, but he threw really well," Lilac said. "He threw a little harder tonight than what we usually face in our league." The only question for Canajoharie once Taylor was locked in was offense and that finally came around in the fourth inning. Dane O'Neil led off the inning with a double and then Joe Horning walked and advanced to second after the fourth ball got away from the Hoosick Falls catcher. Ryan Hodge delivered the big hit by doubling down the left field line to bring home O'Neil and Horning. Jake Tamsett brought Hodge home on an RBI ground out to give the Cougars a 3-0 lead. "The fourth has been the golden inning for us all year long," Watterson said. "We usually take a little time to adjust and then we start hitting. Hoosick Falls really kept us off early. I was surprised to see so many curveballs from the LaFlamme kid." Canajoharie added two runs in the fifth and sixth to take a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Finally Taylor started to show a few kinks in his armor after dominating the last five innings. He walked Hoosick Falls' leadoff hitter Josh Mulreachy for the second time and the LaFlamme laced an RBI double down the left field line to score Mulreachy for the Panthers first run. After Taylor walked Foster, Watterson pulled him and went to his ace O'Neil, who had just thrown seven innings on Thursday in a 2-1 win over Cambridge. "I feel like I got a little worked up over that foul ball hit, maybe it was fair," Taylor joked about LaFlamme's controversial double. "I got a little worked up though and started missing my spots and Coach took me out and put Dane in and he did great so it worked out and we got the win." O'Neil surrendered an RBI ground out to Colliano to cut the lead to 5-2 before he mowed down the next two Panther hitters and end the rally attempt. "We've got to get our arms healthy by Tuesday," Watterson said. "I didn't want to have to throw Dane but we brought him to close it out." Canajoharie added two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh and then O'Neil set Hoosick Falls down in order to clinch the Cougars a ticket to Joe Bruno Stadium and the Class CC championship. "It feels great," Watterson said. "This is the first time Canajoharie baseball has been in the finals in the last 13 years. We've been knocked out in the semifinals the last seven years. Usually when it comes down to this time we boot the ball around but Hoosick did that today." Hoosick Falls (14-6 overall) committed seven errors over the final four innings two in the fourth and seventh that allowed Canajoharie to keep innings going and get runs that could have been avoided. "For whatever reason we didn't really play too well today and it was probably our worst game of the season," Lilac said. "But, you have to give Canajoharie credit, they put the ball in play and we didn't make the plays. We just gave them too many runs and at this stage of the game, you can't do that." Canajoharie (15-7 overall) will face Chatham in the Class CC championship on Tuesday at Joe Bruno Stadium on the Hudson Valley Community College campus in Troy at 7 p.m. Taylor and his fellow seniors O'Neil and Payton Stahler will be looking to win their first baseball title to go along with their basketball title in 2009. "We won a sectional title for basketball last year and I just really want that title for baseball too," Taylor said. "This is the first time the group of us has gotten this far in baseball and we're looking forward to going to Joe Bruno." Canajoharie 7, Hoosick Falls 2 Canajoharie 000 311 2 - 7 6 1 Hoosick Falls 000 002 0 - 2 1 7 Taylor, O'Neil (6) and Fleischer; LaFlamme, Ferrannini (5) and Brewster.   Subscribe to The Leader Herald Share: Facebook  MySpace  Digg  Stumble  Buzz up!  Mixx  Fark  del.icio.us   LiveSpaces   Member Comments View Comments: | Post a comment No comments posted for this article. You must first login before you can comment. 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Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Joe Horning lined a double to the right-centerfield fence. Two batters later Lucas McLaughlin drove a long-fly ball over the right-center field fence to give the Cougars a 2-1 advantage.

Canajoharie pitcher Dane O'Neil struck out the side in the top of the sixth to help preserve the victory and put the Cougars to Sunday's semifinal game against Hoosick Falls.

"I have watched this team all year and knew they were one of the better hitting teams in the league and they played good defense, and they did tonight," Canajoharie coach Brett Waterson said. "We stepped up and played a good game tonight."

O'Neil and Indians' pitcher Zach Carle both kept the hitters off balance through the first three innings. Both hurlers received solid defensive plays behind them to keep the game scoreless.

Canajoharie's Anthony Taylor led off the first inning with a single, but Cambridge second baseman Nick Diotte snagged a line drive off the bat of Zach Fleischer and threw to first for a double play.

Cougars' shortstop Payton Stahler took a hit away from Jacob Meerwarth when he made an over the shoulder grab of Meerwarth's fly ball in short left field.

Justin Braun robbed McLaughlin of a hit when the Indians' third baseman dove to his left to grab a hard grounder, scrambled to his feet and fired to first to nip McLaughlin for the first out of the third inning.

Billy Catlin broke the scoreless deadlock with one out in the top of the fourth. The senior center fielder connected on an 1-0 offering from O'Neil and drove it over the left field fence for a home run and a 1-0 Cambridge lead.

The Cougars fought back in the bottom of the fifth.

Horning led off the inning with a double off the right field fence. Carle struck out Ryan Hodge before McLaughlin drove Carle's first pitch over the right field fence to give the Cougars a 2-1 advantage.

"He has been hitting the ball hard all year," Waterson said. "The top of the order was not really doing much today, but the middle of the order stepped up today. I have nine guys, one through nine, who can hit with power. So if somebody is off, somebody else is on. If we every get all nine clicking at the same time . . ."

Now with a lead, O'Neil bore down in the top of the sixth to strike out the top of the Indians' line up

Cambridge made a seventh-inning run at the Cougars, putting runners on second and third with two outs.

Braun connected on a long fly ball to right field that Hodge settled under for the final out to send Canajoharie into Saturday's semifinal game.

"I knew we were going to be in a battle coming in," Waterson said. "[Playing solid defense] is what we needed to do. We can play with anybody when we play good defense."

O'Neil finished with nine strike outs for the Cougars, while scattering four hits. Carle also allowed four hits and struck out eight.

Catlin and Diotti collected extra base hits for the Indians with a home run and double respectively. Tyler Clark and Seth Frakes both singled to round out the Cambridge hitting.

McLaughlin led the Canajoharie hitters with his two-run home run, while Horning doubled and Taylor and Zach Fleischer singled.

The Cougars will face Hoosic Falls in the Class CC semifinal at 6 p.m. Saturday at Albany's Bleecker Stadium.

Canajoharie 2, Cambridge 1

Cambridge000 100 0 - 1 4 0

Canajoharie000 020 x - 2 4 0

Dane O’Neill hit a two-run walkoff home run in the ninth inning Monday as Canjoharie handed Schoharie its first Western Athletic Conference loss, 8-6.

O’Neill, who also got the win after coming on in relief in the sixth inning, teamed up with starter Anthony Taylor for 16 strikeouts. Payton Stahler went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and a home run for the Cougars (6-2, 9-3), while Tim Beninati had a double and a single for the Indians (7-1, 9-2).