SYRACUSE — Ashton Palmer pitched a three-hit shutout for New Hartford and the Notre Dame Jugglers won a unique playoff rematch Monday in the 2026 Section III baseball finals at Onondaga Community College.
Beaver River blanked West Canada Valley in the Class C game at Murnane Field in Utica and joined Class A New Hartford and B Notre Dame of Utica as champions, following Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse and West Genesee which were crowned Sunday in classes AAA and AA.
The Section III season wraps up Tuesday when undefeated Oriskany takes the field in Syracuse to defend its Class D title against McGraw.
New Hartford knocks off No. 1 Cortland
New Hartford’s Spartans, runners-up to Jamesville-DeWitt two of the previous three years, earned their first championship since the 2012 team advanced to the state semifinals. They completed a strong sectional run as the No. 2 seed with a 12-0 win over No. 1 Cortland.
Palmer, a junior, struck out 10 batters and walked one, and contributed two doubles and five runs batted in to the Spartans’ nine-hit offensive showing. New Hartford (16-5) broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the fourth inning, the second and third allowed by Cortland () in three postseason games.
Cortland had beaten defending champ Jamesville-DeWitt 2-1 in the quarterfinals and shut out 2024 champion Camden 4-0 in Saturday’s semifinals.
Jamesville-DeWitt had beaten New Hartford 13-0 last year to earn its third consecutive championship.
New Hartford, winner of five consecutive games, opened the playoffs with a 6-2 win over Chittenango and defeated South Jefferson 9-3 Saturday.
After taking a 2-0 lead Monday, the Spartans added a run in the fifth inning and broke the game open with six more in the sixth.
Peyton Way and Ben Fiorentino matched Palmer with two hits each, and Fiorentino, Way, Joe Mungari and Michael Brucker all scored multiple runs.
New Hartford’s baseball team joins the school’s softball team as sectional champions this spring.
The Spartans play a regional semifinal at Clarkson University Thursday against Section X Massena.
Notre Dame defeats newly-merged Syracuse school
One year, one merger and a change in classification later, Utica’s Notre Dame Jugglers ended a two-decade championship drought by beating Bishop Ludden-Grimes of Syracuse 8-3 in Section III’s Class B championship game Monday.
The Jugglers (11-12) have won a season-high five consecutive games, four of them in the playoffs and added a championship to the end of a run similar to last spring’s postseason. The 2025 Jugglers won five games in a row to get to the Class C final and finished an 8-11-1 season with an 8-7 loss to Bishop Grimes.
Bishop Grimes merged with Bishop Ludden, the No. 1 seed and a semifinalist in Class B in 2025, entering the 2025-26 academic year. The merger moved the Bishop Grimes players up one class for the new season, and the Jugglers were also bumped up one class.
The enlarged Gaelic Knights (13-9) scored twice in the first inning and added a run in the second to open a 3-0 lead Monday. Josh Caruso held Bishop Ludden-Grimes scoreless after that, and his Juggler teammates put up their first runs in the top of the fourth. Two more runs game Notre Dame the lead in the fifth inning, and the Jugglers added four in the sixth.
James Synakowski had two hits and scored two runs for Notre Dame, and Owen Bougourd had two hits, a run and an RBI. Caruso allowed five hits and walked one batter while striking out four.
The season continues for both teams with Section III receiving an at-large bid for the state Class B playoffs. Bishop Ludden-Grimes is back in action Tuesday for a game against Section IV champion Oneonta at Union-Endicott High School. Notre Dame next plays Thursday at St. Lawrence University against Section X Canton.
Notre Dame last won a sectional title in 2005 when the Jugglers also won their second Class C state championship in five years.
Beaver River ends season for streaking West Canada Valley
Junior Karter Kloster pitched a three-hit shutout at Murnane Field Monday and top seed Beaver River ended West Canada Valley’s seven-game win streak – and the Nighthawks’ season – with a 9-0 victory in Section III’s Class C championship game.
Kloster struck out eight batters, walked three, and limited No. 3 West Canada Valley (14-6) to singles by Brayden Rath, Jordan Salvagni and Sam Stewart.
“We got a few guys on,” West Canada Valley coach Mark Maxwell said. “We just couldn’t get things going.”
Isaac Maxwell set Beaver River (15-7) down in order in the first inning retired the first five Beaver batters before working his way into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the second inning.
An infield hit, a bunt, a wild pitch and the first of three sacrifice flies produced the game’s first run for Beaver River which turned that quiet start into a four-run third inning. The Beavers scored two more in the fourth and three in the fifth, building a lead that put the game out of West Canada Valley’s reach.
Freshman Lane Kloster went three-for-three with a two-run triple for the Beavers, and Karter Kloster, Cade Getman and Henry Roes each added two hits to the team’s total of 13. Roes and Karter Koster each scored two runs, and Kayne Lyndaker drove in two.
The turnaround is a quick one for Beaver River which plays again Tuesday against Section IV Trumansburg at Susquehanna Valley High School.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: New Hartford, Notre Dame win sectional baseball titles
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
