Every single time they encounter each other, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse softball teams know how nervous things can get.
Gaining superiority in this long and consequential rivalry requires talent, for sure, but also avoiding mistakes – or, if they do take place, overcoming them, especially if those mistakes happen early.
The fact that the top-seeded Warriors suffered a rare lapse in the first inning of Thursday’s Section III Class AA semifinal at the Gillette Road complex gave it ample time to recover, and it did so, rallying in the latter stages to knock off the Northstars 5-3.
Each of their regular-season meetings had proved close, C-NS blanking Liverpool 2-0 on April 27, but the Warriors prevailing 5-4 less than two weeks later.
Now, in this latest post-season chapter of a series usually decided in a sectional final, Peyton Bellrose and Meg Tully would oppose each other in the pitcher’s circle.
C-NS would apply pressure in the top of the first, loading the bases with two outs. Then, when a fly ball to right field fell to the grass, the bases cleared, allowing Jessica Callisto, Paige Critella and Victoria Dunn to race home.
Staked to that unexpected 3-0 lead, Tully did well to hang on to it through the first three innings. More ominously, though, Bellrose settled down and began an effort where she would allow just five hits and strike out eight, waiting for some help.
It started to come in the bottom of the fourth. With two on, Jenna Wike and Delanie Alberici both were able to drive in runs, cutting the Northstars’ lead to 3-2.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Alicia Hansen singled, only to get called out moving too soon from first base on a steal attempt. Unfazed by this, the Warriors put two runners on as Wike returned to the plate.
Wike grounded back to Tully, but the throw home was high, and the tying run scored. When a throw to second to catch Wike went offline, the go-ahead run came home for Liverpool.
After tacking on an insurance run, Liverpool turned back to Bellrose, who recorded the last three outs that sent the Warriors into Monday night’s sectional final at Gillette.
There, Liverpool faces an unlikely opponent, no. 6 seed Utica Proctor, who knocked off Auburn (5-4) and Baldwinsville (4-3) to reach its first title game in 17 years.
C-NS had reached the semifinals on May 21 with a 3-0 shutout over no. 5 seed Rome Free Academy, while Liverpool had to wait until last Tuesday for its AA quarterfinal game against no. 9 seed West Genesee, but didn’t let the wait bother them as it knocked out the Wildcats 11-2.
Though it took until the second inning for the Warriors to get on the board against WG pitcher Alli Nave, it quickly made up for that lag by getting three runs in the third and fourth innings, followed by two runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
All told, Liverpool pounded out 15 hits, two each by Bellrose, Hansen, Alberici, Jordan Wheeler, Erika Sadowski and Dominique LaRose. Hansen scored three times as Wheeler and Yudin got two RBIs apiece, with Joelle Nesci also driving in a run.
Bellrose was not sharp on this day, surrendering 11 hits, but still holding WG to single runs in the fourth and fifth innings as the Warriors played error-free defense (the Wildcats had four errors) and Bellrose struck out five.
