Sharp gave up a leadoff walk, a one-out single and another walk to load the bases. That's when Sharp buried a pitch into the turf and the ball slipped past catcher James Musco. For a moment, the backstop feared the ball would carom off the brick wall behind home plate at Saugerties' Cantine Field and the tying runs would score. As fate would have it, though, the ball only traveled a short distance, Musco pounced on it with a nice slide and pivot and threw his own strike back to home plate, where Sharp made the grab and tagged out Nicky Benedetto for the game's final out.

Chester prevailed 2-0, and completed its unlikely climb to the state semifinals, matching the 2022 Hambletonians.

Chester will face Center Moriches, a 4-0 winner over Oyster Bay on Saturday, in a 1 p.m. semifinal on Friday, June 12, at Binghamton University. The final would also be at Binghamton on June 13.

The Hambletonians struck early. Musco led off the game with a ground rules double to right field, took second on a one-out single to center by Sharp and scored on Logan Bach's grounder to shortstop that could not be converted into a double play.

Chester went up 2-0 in the third. Sharp reached on an infield error, stole second and scored on Bach's single to left-center.

Putnam Valley (18-8) appeared to get a run back in the fourth when Benedetto scored following a wonderful diving catch in center by Mason Diaz off the bat of Braeden McCarty but the umpires ruled the runner had not properly tagged up and the inning was over.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Chester baseball blanks Putnam Valley in 2026 state B quarterfinals