Through solid defense, better pitching and timely hits, the Westhill softball team seized the OHSL Liberty division title from defending champion Jordan-Elbridge.

And the final touch was applied in back-to-back games between the Warriors and Eagles late last week, both of which were decided by a single run.

In the opener, at Westhill on Thursday (made up from an April 27 rainout), the Warriors survived a tense 1-0 duel.

A first-inning run held up, as Jessica Mangicaro pitched one of her best games of the season, holding J-E to just one hit. For its part, Westhill had just four hits, yet still prevailed.

The rematch came 24 hours later, at J-E, and proved to be just as tense and tight. But one big inning allowed the Warriors to prevail again, this time by a score of 3-2.

Ryan’s double and triple helped the Eagles go in front 2-0, but Westhill erased it by scoring three times in the top of the fourth inning.

And even though it had just three hits off J-E pitchers Ryan and Jennifer Gasparek, the Warriors came out on top, for Mangicaro protected that one-run lead through the last four innings and earned eight strikeouts along the way.

Prior to that, Westhill romped past Skaneateles 12-3.

Five first-inning runs sent the Warriors on its way against the Lakers. Maggie Syron led the charge, with four RBIs, as Amanda O’Connell hit a home run and joined Sarah McMullen, Kayley Arsenault and Lauren Kelly with two RBIs apiece.

Then it all turned around Tuesday, as Westhill saw its 12-game win streak stopped by Bishop Ludden in a 2-1 decision.

O’Connell’s first-inning RBI got the Warriors in front of Ludden, but pitcher Courtney Smith allowed nothing more as she finished with a four-hitter. The Gaelic Knights scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings off Mangicaro to prevail.

Westhill avenged that Ludden defeat the very next day, rallying to beat the Gaelic Knights 4-3.

Ludden got a pair of first-inning runs, but despite allowing 10 hits (including triples by Sarah Weston and Katie Sierotnik), Mangicaro settled down and escaped numerous jams.

The Warriors went in front with three runs in the top of the fourth, then added an insurance run an inning later that turned out to be important. Arsenault, Syron, Kelly and Sarah McMullen each drove in runs, as Weston led Ludden with two RBIs.

In a nonleague game Saturday after the J-E sweep, the Warriors dropped a 12-0 decision to Henninger.

Westhill could not cool off a Henninger team that had just shocked defending state Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse earlier in the week, as the Black Knights scored runs in each of the first five innings and pitcher Nicole Traylor held the Warriors to four hits. Meghan Karasinski led Henninger with two doubles and three RBIs.