The Pine Bush Bushmen made a giant step forward when they won the Section 9 Class AAA championship this season with a victory over the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks.

The Bushmen had lost three straight regular-season games to their Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division I rival before beating them, 3-2, in the championship game.

It gave the Bushmen their first sectional championship since 2013 and Section 9 coaches voted Bushmen coach Scott VanPelt with Coach of the Year honors. The team’s pitcher Avery Ogden was named a sectional Class AAA all-star.

The Valley Central Vikings, who had earned the top seed in the Section 9 Class AA playoffs before falling to the Minisink Valley Warriors in the championship, game had three players named to the Class AA all-star team.

Senior shortstop Emilia Brundage, a staple in the middle of the Vikings’ lineup for the past four seasons, earned all-star honors along with sophomore center fielder Adrianna Ferraro and sophomore first baseman Eleanor O’Neill.

Wallkill junior center fielder Charley Callahan also was named a Class AA all-star.
Chapel Field, which won the Section 9 championship for the first time since 2014 and had two players – senior pitcher Emma Spanjer and senior shortstop Skyler Robinson – named as sectional Class D all-stars.
Goshen coach Brooke Shaeffer was named Class AA coach of the year and Tri-Valley coach Jenna Carmody was named Coach of the Year for Class C/D.