SAUGERTIES — In the Marlboro dugout, there was a crudely crafted contraption using a bat and an empty bottle taped on the handle. Cleary resembling a pickaxe, it was almost certainly made to represent chipping away, doing the little things correctly with the hopes that the final goal will come to fruition.
Well, Marlboro continued chipping away on the way to a third straight sectional title.
Entering the Section 9 Class A postseason as the seven seed, the Dukes ran the table all the way to the title game and walked away as champions yet again after a defensively dominant 2-0 victory over Beacon in the championship game at Cantine Field in Saugerties on Saturday afternoon. Marlboro defeated the No. 1, 2 and 3 seeds on the road on the way to a three-peat.
While so much more difficult than it’s been in past years, this one may be the most memorable to date.
“I’m just proud, I’m proud of the guys… we started out real slow and we were struggling to get wins across but they didn’t give up. They worked hard and they got better,” an emotional John Morrissey, the head coach of Marlboro, said after the win. “If I could say anything about this team is that we’re getting better.”
At one point in the season, the Dukes’ record stood at 6-11, simply fighting for postseason hopes in any capacity. Looking for any semblance of motivation or direction, it was one of the team captains who truly made a difference.
“This team was struggling to have that leader and Liam [Correa] stepped up. Liam is a leader by example. We don’t have that rah rah leader but Liam is morphing into something we can’t live without,” Morrissey said of his star junior. “He motivates us, gets us going, puts us on his shoulders and he performs like he did today.”
As his head coach said, Marlboro couldn’t live without Correa. With his performance on Saturday, he was able to be a main catalyst as to why the life of the season is still there.
The powerful lefty tossed a complete game shutout in the championship victory, striking out eight batters without allowing a single walk. He also scored one of the two runs for the Dukes in the contest. Stepping up in the biggest moments of the season, his coach couldn’t contain the joy he had watching his star finish the job.
“I couldn’t be happier. I know every coach here would love to have Liam on their team. He puts the team first, he works hard and shows up. He does all the small things, the important things that people overlook, he does,” Morrissey gushingly said. “For him to do what he did and all the other guys, the energy they bring, it’s nice to see that they’re trusting what we’re doing.”
The Dukes’ Meyer Baker drove in Correa for the game-winning RBI in the third inning. Brayden Soma later drove in a runner with an RBI single to add an insurance run.
It wasn’t just Correa on the mound that contributed to the shutout. Playing in the most pressure-packed contest of the season, the Dukes’ defense shined to help keep zeroes on the board. A microcosm of how the season played out as a whole, Morrissey noted that the play in the field was the culmination of work behind the scenes all year long.
“Jax Fernandez, in center field, came over running into left-center to make a great play and I could honestly say that at the beginning of the year, we might not have made that play,” he said, noting that particular play as one of many. “I told these guys ‘you will win a championship, you will be successful if you do these things,’ and it came through today for us.”
The season continues on for at least one more game. Marlboro plans to continue doing the little things and chipping away until the final out is recorded.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Seven seed Marlboro completes miraculous run to grab sectional title
Reporting by Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
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