There were two outs, two strikes, runners on first and second, and the tying run at the plate. But out to the mound trotted catcher Dominic Puleo to offer some final words of encouragement for his ace pitcher, Trevor Meidenbauer.
Niagara Falls High School had waited years for this moment. So what was a few seconds?
“Relax,” Puleo told him. “We have it.”
That belief was central to the Wolverines’ season and their determination to make history. And Saturday night they did just that.
Meidenbauer struck out Lancaster’s Cole Notaro looking on the next pitch, finishing a one-hitter and a long quest for a title.
The Wolverines, for the first time in their 25-year history, were Section VI baseball champions.
“It’s been on their minds all year,” said ninth-year coach Rob Augustino, whose team won 5-2 in the deciding game of the best-of-three Class AAA championship series.
“It’s been our plan.”
Most coaches wouldn’t want their squads looking ahead to the playoffs. But there was no stopping Niagara Falls players this season. Not with the memories of defeat so fresh in their heads.
Two years ago, a walk-off loss to Lancaster ended their season in the Class AA semifinals. Last year, they had a 1-0 lead in the AAA title series against the same Legends, only to drop the next two games by a single run.
All but three Falls players returned from that 2024 team, and only one of the graduates was a starter. They couldn’t wait to get to sectionals, to get another shot where they’d fallen short. Augustino heard conversations about it all season.
They knew how to win, but just hadn’t done it on the big stage.
Consider, Niagara Falls finished first in the Niagara Frontier League three of the past four years, including this season when the Wolverines outscored league opponents a whopping 149-29.
But it didn’t matter. This season was all about the postseason.
They’d felt for years they had a team capable of winning it all, but had no championship hardware to show for it.
To senior captain Anthony Savino, a fifth-year varsity player at shortstop, this team’s chemistry made the difference. The Wolverines’ bond was held together by a common goal.
It was on display from the start of the season, when they traveled to Florida for spring training. Moseying through the parks at Walt Disney World between games, they stuck together as one group. Their closeness transferred to the field.
At 15-5, Niagara Falls wouldn’t mind the journey continuing for a couple of more weeks. The Wolverines play Section V’s winner, McQuaid Jesuit or Fairport, in the Far West Regionals at 7 p.m. Friday at Innovative Field, home of the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. Win there and it’s off to Binghamton for the state final four.
“We’re trying to make a run,” Savino said.
Whatever happens, they’ll be remembered as champions.
“I just love that when we eventually did this,” Augustino said, “it was with this group.”