Tigers Defeated in Baseball Playoffs

SAUGERTIES – Dreams die hard. At least they did for the Putnam Valley High School baseball team.

The Tigers – newly minted Section 1 champions – lost in the first round of the New York State playoffs, falling to Chester, 2-0, in Class B. The game was played at neutral Cantine Field in Saugerties.

PV finished the season with a record of 18-8 in a game that was the equivalent of a state quarterfinal. The Hambletonians reached the state semifinals for the second time in four years.

Chester pitcher Nick Sharp was brilliant in keeping Putnam Valley at bay, but the Tigers made things interesting by loading the bases in the seventh inning. That included a fortuitous bounce on a wild pitch and a play at the plate to end the game.

Chester scored the only run it would need in the first inning. It added an insurance run in the third inning.

Putnam Valley lost a run in the fourth inning when it was ruled by the umpires that a player did not properly tag up on a sacrifice fly.