The junior right-hander was quickly joined by his Falconer teammates and together they celebrated their 2-1 victory over Randolph in a Section VI Class C baseball semifinal.

“I told the boys that we owe him a steak dinner,” relieved head coach Fred Carder said postgame. “He threw great.”

All told, Stenstrom tossed a four-hitter, struck out 12 and walked four to send the Golden Falcons (14-4), the No. 2 seed, into the sectional title game against No. 1 Gowanda (19-3), which blanked No. 5 Brocton/Cassadaga Valley 10-0 in the other semifinal. The championship contest will be played at 10 a.m. Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park in Salamanca.

For Falconer, a trip to the sectional final has been a long time coming.

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg Falconer's Chase Bianco tags out Randolph's Laiden Wotojwicz during Thursday's Section VI Class C semifinal at Denny Meszaros Field in Falconer.

“Gowanda is a tough team,” Carder said. “Hopefully it’s time. They’ve had a good run. Our boys are ready. Although this was a grind today, our boys are ready. It’s been the most hyped I’ve seen them all year, and it’s coming at a good time.”

But playing for sectional supremacy almost didn’t happen, thanks to the upstart Cardinals (13-6), the No. 3 seed, and their pitching trio of freshman Preston Swan, and juniors Gavin Senn and Aidan Taylor, who combined on a three-hitter. The only runs they allowed, in fact, came on a successful double steal in the third inning and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Griffin Knopp in the fourth.

“The hits weren’t there today,” Carder said.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, tallied their only run in the top of the fourth when junior Randall Nottingham led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Bryson Pitts and scored on an error.

“We played our best baseball tonight and gave them a run for their money,” Randolph head coach Steve McElwain said.

OBSERVER Photo by Scott Kindberg Randolph's Gavin Senn and Aidan Taylor celebrate an out during Thursday's Section VI Class C semifinal against Falconer at Denny Meszaros Field in Falconer.

Both teams had other opportunities to push across runs, but came up empty. The Golden Falcons left the bases loaded in the fifth, while the Cardinals stranded two runners in both the sixth and seventh.

The sixth-inning failure was a gut punch.

With one out and runners on second and third, Randolph had a chance to finally take the lead. Stenstrom recorded a strikeout for the second out, but walked Taylor to, presumably, load the bases. But the Cardinals’ runner at third took off for home and was tagged out by Falconer senior catcher Logan Johnson to end the rally.

“Just a mental mistake in the heat of the moment,” McElwain said. “That’s baseball. Things happen and you’ve got to be able to come back from it.”

And Randolph almost did.

In the top of the seventh, Stenstrom fanned the first three batters he faced, but the Cardinals’ Reagan Smith reached first on a dropped third strike and throwing error. Senn then reached on an infield single to put two runners on with two outs, but Stenstrom got freshman Laiden Wojtowicz to ground out to end the threat and the game.

“It’s not a pretty win,” Carder said, “but we’re playing again Saturday.”

That will be in Salamanca where they will meet Gowanda, which beat Falconer twice during the regular season by scores of 8-6 in 13 innings and 13-1.

“I expect to see Carter Capozzi,” Carder said. “You’ve got to face the best and beat the best if you want to keep going.”

For the Cardinals, who enjoyed improvement each of the last three seasons, the future appears bright.

“I’m sad this year is over, but I’m super excited for the next few years of Randolph baseball,” McElwain said. “My first year we won four, last year we won eight and this year we finished third in the league.”