The last thing he did in the dugout before he walked out was hug his pitcher, Danielle Palisin, after she finished a postgame interview with her family looking on. Palisin pitched a stellar game as Fredonia fell just one run short of Haverling, the eventual State runner-up, 2-1.

The bitter part of sports is that only one team gets to end the year on a victory in the state title game. Fortunately in Western New York, teams get a championship game before they advance to the next stage.

Fredonia made a habit of claiming that crown and the blue patch that comes with it. Jesse’s girls did so four straight times. The latest of those four titles was earned last year with a 7-5 win over Alden at Grand Island High School.

Still, after four straight Section VI Championships, Beers elected to step down from his role as the varsity head coach. For the seniors that graduated last year, Beers said the group “has never known anything but blue patches. He said after his final game, “Overall, I’m pretty darn happy with this group.”

OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen The Fredonia ‘Billies softball team earned four straight Section VI Championships under head coach Jesse Beers, pictured standing far right. The latest of those four titles was earned last year at Grand Island High School with a 7-5 win over Alden.

His final group of players weren’t the only ones who became accustomed to winning at Fredonia. Beers took over the varsity head coaching role in 2017. In that time, his team had at least 13 wins each year and never finished with a losing record. In fact, they never lost more than five games, and his win percentage overall was over 85%. Beers earned his 100th victory in 2024, then racked up 18 more in his final season last year.

To say he leaves big shoes to fill is an understatement.

Beers was often an advocate for enhancing the facilities for his program. As a Fredonia teacher, Beers visited several Board of Education meetings to speak out against the poor conditions of the softball field at Fredonia High School. He also recorded a video urging voters to support the Capital Project in the winter of 2024, which voters dramatically shot down due to the 10% tax increase it would have required from district taxpayers.

Even on one of the worst fields in the region, Beers still found consistent success. Now it will be up to Joe Pucciarelli to pick up where he left off.

Pucciarelli was appointed as the new head coach of the Fredonia varsity softball team at the latest Board of Education meeting. In addition to Pucciarelli taking over the varsity job, Kaylee Eaton will serve as a varsity softball assistant. Ed Schrantz will continue to serve as the junior varsity softball coach.

Other coaching assignments were also approved by the Board, including Carol Zirkle as Unified Basketball head coach, Jake Carrol as boys tennis coach, Ross Conti as boys golf coach, and Scott Herdzik as girls golf coach.

Tim Cowan returns as head coach of the varsity baseball team, with Jim Rush returning as his assistant coach. Chris Kubacki and Wes Bolton lead the junior varsity baseball team, while Justin Conroy leads the modified baseball team.

Nick Bertrando and Tim Kachelmeyer will continue to coach the varsity girls flag football team. Drew Brown and Quane Pate lead the modified girls flag football team. Five unpaid volunteers will assist the girls flag football program: Hayden Battaglia, Simon Davis, Ashlyn Delcamp, Katrina Harper, and Kayla Wiskup.

Bob Ball is head coach of boys track and field, with Andrew Field serving as an assistant boys track coach. Tom Stokes is head coach of the girls track and field program, with Laurie Brifu as an assistant girls track coach. Darrell Waag will coach boys track and field at the modified level, while Vince Gullo coaches modified girls track and field.

Alex Conti and Dave Lewis will volunteer as unpaid golf coaches. Mario Muscarella will volunteer as a baseball and softball assistant coach. Lenieth Velez-Olmo will volunteer with the track and field teams.

Six unpaid volunteers will coach the Fredonia Trap Team, led by program founder Jerry Kinney. Brandon Mead, Paul Turo, Craig Sullivan, Kevin Malkowski, and Dan Tomaszewski will assist Kinney. As a Board of Education member, Kinney abstained from the vote. He also voted against the paid coaching appointments in objection of the varsity baseball coaches.

The next regular meeting of the Fredonia Board of Education will be on Tuesday, March 10 at 6 p.m. in the High School Library.