Crusaders baseball team wins Section 9 title after 36-year drought
Sports. Monroe-Woodbury defeats Kingston 9-3 to claim championship.
| 05 Jun 2026 | 04:14
The Crusaders break the 36-year drought and win the Section 9 AAA title. (
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Michael Monda shows his emotion as he scores in the first inning (
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Joshua Konior led the Crusaders offense with three hits and three RBI’s. (
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Crusader pitcher Braeden Burke #3, picked up his eighth victory of the season leading the Crusaders to victory. (
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Thirty-six years ago, the Monroe-Woodbury High School Crusaders baseball team won the Section 9 title. Since then nothing. They have had some strong teams that have reached the finals but no championships.
On May 30, that all changed at Cantine Field in Saugerties, as the Crusaders broke their 36-year drought and claimed the Section 9 Class AAA Championship. The number-one-seeded Crusaders entered the game with an overall record of 17-3 and were 10-2 in league play. The Tigers from Kingston came into the game with a 14-6 overall record with a 9-4 record in league play. The Crusaders had beaten the Tigers in two of the three regular season games they had played already this year.
The Crusaders took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. After getting the bases loaded a run scoring single by Joshua Konior was followed by a two-run double by Liam Hayes and the Crusaders had a 3-0 lead. Crusader starting pitcher Braeden Burke settled down after giving up a first inning single and pitched another masterpiece. Burke pitched seven innings allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out 11 to pick up his eighth win of the season.
The Crusaders put the game away in the fifth inning when they scored five more runs on seven walks and another RBI single by Konior to give the team a 8-1 lead.
The Tigers did not give up and added two runs in the sixth but the Crusaders responded and pushed another run across the bottom of the inning. Burke then went out to the mound and shut the door on the Tigers and the Crusaders after waiting 36 years claimed the Section 9 title with the 9-3 victory.