Anthony Littere thinks he should have hit the first pitch.
Eventually he hit a grounder to second, but it was bobbled. He had a chance to beat the throw.
As he stretched to reach first base, his leg buckled and he hit the ground in a heap. Littere knew it wasn’t good.
Before running to check on his star player, Niagara Falls coach Rob Augustino said aloud, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
It was the team’s first at-bat of the Section VI Class AAA championship series against Lancaster. Littere had a superb regular season and the Wolverines were attempting to win their first sectional championship since 1999 after losing in the finals or semifinals four years in a row.
Littere tore his LCL from his fibula and had to watch Niagara Falls finally break through to advance to the state semifinals. But the Wolverines wouldn’t have reached that point without Littere.
The junior pitched, played second, third and catcher, all while serving as the team’s leadoff hitter. He hit .484 with 25 RBIs and 25 runs scored, while striking out 29 with a 1.12 ERA in 25 innings on the mound.
The Niagara Frontier League Player of the Year has also been selected as the Greater Niagara Newspapers Player of the Year.
“I like seeing the different perspectives,” Littere said. “I love bouncing around because I love the team so I want to do the best I can to help and do my best to make the team more balanced and stronger anywhere on the field.”
Littere has been one of the marquee players in the NFL since he began playing varsity baseball, with first-team all-league selections every year since his freshman campaign. His natural position is shortstop, but Niagara Falls has had two shortstops during his time — Tyler Kennedy and Anthony Savino — so Augustino has had the luxury of moving him around.
When Trevor Meidenbauer was on the mound, Littere played third base. When Andre Borges pitched, Littere moved to second. And when All-Western New York catcher Dom Puleo had to miss a couple games with an injury, Littere filled in there, too.
And while Meidenbauer battled arm soreness and Augustin lightened his workload during the regular season, Littere took on more responsibility as a pitcher. Littere’s ERA also lowered his ERA from 2.27 to 1.12 in the process.
Some players might get ornery about not playing their natural position, but Littere enjoyed bouncing around the diamond and having an impact in a variety of areas.
“He’s not only a jack-of-all trades, he’s consistent for us and has no issues with any decision we make as far as where he’s playing,” Augustino said. “He just goes and does it. … Talk about a guy that held this team together. That pretty much epitomizes what Anthony did.”
Littere’s versatility wasn’t limited to the field, because he also moved around the batting order. Entering his junior year, Littere was slotted in the No. 3 hole coming off a season in which he hit .431 with four home runs and 30 RBIs.
But Niagara Falls had a hole at the leadoff spot and Littere got on base at an efficient clip. In 80 plate appearances, Littere got on base 49 times or nearly 60%. On top of that, he only struck out six times.
So Augustino decided to shift Littere up two spots to be the leadoff hitter. The move took away some power in the middle of the lineup, but it also not only got Niagara Falls a baserunner more frequently, but it created more hitting opportunities for its best hitter.
No one had to beg Littere to agree to more at-bats, plus he found that it improved hit selection. Littere doesn’t like to swing unless there’s a fastball over the plate, but he wasn’t getting many as the No. 3 hitter. But pitchers don’t want to start games or innings with a walk and he started getting more of the pitches he desired.
“I mostly aim for a fastball, mostly right down the middle because young high school kids, they’re going to give it to you,” Littere said. “So I just look for that pitch. … I felt like a barely got anywhere close to the zone, but in the leadoff, I started really seeing more fastballs closer to the plate.”
Niagara Falls tried to patch the hole while Littere was injured, but eventually his absence was felt. The Wolverines averaged 11 runs per game before Littere was injured and they scored 12 while he was out, including a 2-1 10-inning loss to Saratoga Springs in the state semifinals.
The leadoff spot became fluid and Niagara Falls struggled to find someone comfortable in that position. It was hard for Littere to watch those games and not think about how he could have changed the outcome, thoughts shared by Augustino.
“It came back to haunt us because we were trying to cover so many different ways,” Augustino said. “… We had multiple moving parts. When you move guys up and down the lineup, that puts other people in different spots at the bottom of the lineup.”
As difficult as it was for Littere to watch his team make a historic postseason run, he refused to miss it. He even wanted to go back to watch the end of the game he was injured in.
Rehab after surgery is expected to last 4 to 6 months, but Littere will be back for the start of his senior season. And with his presence in the lineup, Niagara Falls should have the talent to make another run.
All three Wolverines who were named first-team All-Western New York — Nick Ligammari, Littere and Puleo — are juniors and fill out the first three spots in the lineup. In total, six players who hit .300 or better are due back next year.
“We didn’t really hit during states, so I felt like I could have done something during that game,” Littere said. “There was no pitching that really impressed me that much. So that’s why I was like, ‘I want to go out there and swing.’”