Throughout the early portion of the spring, the Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy softball teams had eyed each other’s results while the Red Rams rose to the top of the OHSL Freedom National division.
And when the two neighbors and rivals finally got together last Friday afternoon, the game lived up to the billing, a tense, tight affair where J-D had to rally in the game’s late stages to earn a 4-3 victory over the Brothers.
Up 1-0 through one inning, the Rams could not hold it as CBA hit for three runs off J-D pitcher Amanda Sumida. Bridget O’Hern and Claire Pierret each had run-scoring hits, with Gabby Damico and Hannah Morris joining Damico in the run-scoring column.
From there, Sumida settled down, blanking the Brothers the rest of the way and recording six strikeouts, waiting for her teammates to figure out CBA pitcher Juila Boule.
That came in the bottom of the fifth, when J-D scored twice to tie it up, 3-3, and then poked in the go-ahead run an inning later. Carly O’Hern earned three hits, with Paige Sherling adding two hits. Sumida and Shayna Myrshall joined O’Hern earning one RBI apiece.
The lead-up to the game involved J-D having to overcome its struggles on the weekend of April 27-28, when Bethlehem, Eden and Averill Park all beat the Red Rams at the Gillette Road complex.
But when it came back to league action last Tuesday, J-D fought past Fulton 4-2, building a 4-0 lead through five innings as Makenzie Keeler hit a home run and earned two RBIs, with Sumida and Alyssa Robens also driving in runs.
Though she had shared pitching duties in recent weeks, Sumida went the full seven innings here, blanking the Red Raiders until Fulton scored twice in the sixth, but then closing it out as she amassed 10 strikeouts against six hits and two walks allowed.
Another big test came Wednesday against unbeaten, state Class B no. 4-ranked Solvay on Wednesday afternoon, and the Red Rams could not contain the Bearcats in a 10-2 defeat.
Myrshall got the start, falling behind 3-0 by the fourth inning, when Solvay broke the game open with two big hits – a two-run double by Chelsie Delperuto and Molly McGuire’s two-run home run.
Sumida replaced Myrshall an inning later, and limited further big damage. J-D also managed single runs in the sixth and seventh innings scored by Keeler, Sherling and Julia Fairbanks as Sherling earned an RBI, but got nothing else against Solvay pitcher Lauren Nichols.
CBA, meanwhile, was winning another close decision over Syracuse, also by a 4-2 margin, this time without seventh-inning drama, but with a strong pitching performance from Boule, who held Syracuse to five hits and overcame four walks by striking out eight.
Syracuse scored both of its runs in the top of the third to grab a 2-0 lead, but the Brothers pulled even in the bottom of the third and then scored twice in the fourth to go in front for good. Catherine Burns had a pair of RBIs, with Pierret doubling in a run and Jessica Valerino also getting an RBI. Morris and Sydney Wind joined Pierret and Burns in the run-scoring column.
Even more impressive for the Brothers was its 16-10 non-league win over Class AA contender Central Square a day later, which ended the Redhawks’ six-game win streak.
CBA trailed, 8-0, before scoring six times in the bottom of the third and then adding five runs in the fifth and sixth innings to erase Central Square’s advantage.
Wind supplied the most dramatic blow, a grand slam that accounted for all four of her RBIs. Gabby Damico doubled and drove in two runs, with Norris and Julia Boule each scoring three times. Boule, Burns, Pierret, Valerino and O’Hern had one RBI apiece.
