Before the weather cut into its schedule, the Liverpool softball team again established its superiority over the challenging pack in the CNY Counties League.
And it did so with added pressure created by the fact that, when the first state Class AA rankings of the spring were released, the Warriors were on top, a rare honor that would make them an even bigger target of every future opponent.
The Warriors hosted Baldwinsville last Monday afternoon, and the pitching arm of Peyton Bellrose, combined with the bat of Alicia Hansen, carried Liverpool past the Bees 5-0.
Two aces were in the pitcher’s circle – Bellrose and B’ville’s Keeana Wolcik. Fresh off a 13-strikeout effort against Cicero-North Syracuse on April 16, Wolcik would limit the Warriors to six hits and earn six strikeouts by game’s end.
Still, Liverpool got to Wolcik for a run in the first inning and two-run rallies in the third and fifth frames. Hansen had three of the Warriors’ six hits, including a triple, scoring twice and finishing with three RBIs, while Erika Sadowski managed two hits and scored twice. Bellrose and Dominique LaRose had one RBI apiece.
Meanwhile, B’ville continually tried to solve Bellrose, but had just four hits of its own, two of them by Brooke Carlisle, including a double. Emma Bernet and Sarah Lalla had the other hits, but Bellrose preserved the shutout by recording eight strikeouts against just one walk.
On Saturday, at the Gillette Road complex, the Warriors took its first blemish of the season, falling 7-2 to Bethlehem (Section II), who didn’t even have a state ranking, but would take charge against Liverpool by getting a 3-1 lead by the end of the second inning.
After a Warriors run in the fifth closed the gap to 3-2, the Eagles countered with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. Bellrose, despite six strikeouts, gave up nine hits and three walks, with only Daniele Alberici managing a pair of hits at the plate.
Later that same day, Liverpool edged another Section II team, Cohoes (no. 3 in the state Class B rankings), by a 5-4 margin in eight innings, having a 4-2 lead get away when Cohoes scored twice in the top of the seventh, but winning it with a run an inning later.
Katie Yudin pitched most of the way, striking out five and limiting Cohoes to six hits. Jenna Wike’s pair of hits led to three RBIs as Bellrose doubled, singled, drove in a run and scored three times. Lauren Cerrone added an RBI
Cicero-North Syracuse, so accustomed to handling anyone in front of them, saw its struggles continue last Monday in a painful 6-5 road defeat to Auburn.
It was the same score by which Central Square beat the Northstars on April 14, and this too saw a comeback, only it was even larger than the one the Redhawks pulled off.
Thanks to a three-run second inning and two runs in the fifth, the Northstars led, 5-0, going to the bottom of the sixth, with Janelle Walters earning a pair of RBIs and Lauren Floyd, Megan Tully and Gabriella Corasaniti driving in one run apiece.
Tully, who had nine strikeouts, blanked Auburn until the bottom of the sixth, when, aided by more poor defense from the Northstars, it got four runs to pull within one, 5-4, and maintained that momentum in the seventh by tying it, 5-5, and then winning on Ally Nicolisi’s single, her third hit of the game, that scored Casey Gray.
A wild weekend followed, starting with C-NS beating West Genesee for the second time this season by a 12-4 margin, gaining a 6-1 advantage through three innings and then adding six runs in the fourth to put the game away.
Julianna Vassallo tripled, singled twice and earned four RBIs, with Jessica Callisto adding a single, double and three RBIs. Tully and Brandi Freeney drove in one run apiece.
During that same weekend tournament where Liverpool lost to Bethlehem, C-NS lost twice to two other Section II squads, falling to Shenendehowa 5-1 and taking a 15-1 defeat to Averill Park.
