Pine Bush erupts for 13-run inning, wins Section 9 title 17-5

Pine Bush’s championship statement came in one inning. Trailing in a tight Section 9 Class AAA final, the top-seeded Bushmen exploded for 13 runs in the fifth and rolled past Newburgh Free Academy 17-5 at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh.

The burst turned a 5-4 game into a runaway and pushed Pine Bush to 20-3 with its 13th straight victory. It also sent the program back into the state tournament as a proven force, not just a sectional survivor. Pine Bush won its second Section 9 title in three seasons and was set to meet the Section 1 champion in a state quarterfinal Friday, June 5, at Monroe-Woodbury High School.

The fifth inning showed how complete Pine Bush has become. Emma Boffalo sparked the rally with a two-run homer that put Pine Bush ahead 9-5 with one out. From there, the Bushmen kept stacking pressure on Newburgh starter Samantha Williams, using nine hits, a walk and four Goldbacks errors to blow the game open before the inning was over.

Payton Croce led the offense, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Silvana Zamonsky and Kenzie Conley each finished 3-for-3, while Ava Boffalo added a 2-for-3 day with two RBI. Autumn Gove also contributed two hits, and Avery Ogden earned the win in the circle as Pine Bush controlled the final stretch.

For Emma Boffalo, the payoff was personal as well as collective. “It means the world to me,” she said after the title.

Pine Bush had already shown what kind of ceiling it had against Newburgh earlier in the month, beating the Goldbacks 10-3 on May 13 and reaching 11-0 in Class AAA play by May 20. By the time the teams met again for the sectional championship, Pine Bush had separated itself from the rest of the bracket with power, depth and a lineup that did not let one big inning go to waste.

Newburgh, despite the lopsided loss, finished 11-10 and still earned an at-large berth in the expanded Class AAA state tournament. The Goldbacks were headed to Binghamton on Tuesday, June 2, for a first-round state game against Corning in the NYSPHSAA Class AAA regional semifinals, giving Orange County two teams still alive after the section final.