Everything was falling into place for Jamesville-DeWitt’s softball team when they finally got around to playing the Section III Class A championship game against defending champion Oneida Wednesday night at Onondaga Community College.
Between Amanda Sumida’s pitching and a patient approach at the plate, the no. 2 seed Red Rams had jumped ahead of the top-seeded Indians, and moved within a few outs of reclaiming the sectional banner.
Just in time, though, Oneida reminded everyone why it had won the sectional title a year earlier, rallying to tie it in the sixth inning and prevailing, 3-2, on Lexi Skibitski’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh.
Of course, it was a long journey just to get to that sectional final. They were supposed to play it last Monday at the Gillette Road complex in Cicero, but then complications ensued.
Heavy rains from the previous weekend saturated the fields at Gillette, so the game got moved to the Field Turf at the OCC complex, but was placed third on the schedule after sectional finals in Class B (Solvay vs. Altmar-Parish-Williamstown) and AA (Liverpool vs. Utica Proctor).
Each of those games ran long, so the two teams didn’t take the field for warm-ups until after 8:30. By 9:15, warm-ups were done, but a shroud of fog and mist made it difficult to see on the field.
All of that, combined with the consideration of the late hour on a school night, made Section III officials decide to move the game to Wednesday – a wise move, since bright sunshine greeted J-D and Oneida as the fight for the sectional title got underway.
From the outset, the Rams applied pressure to Indians starter Emily O’Herien. Carly O’Hern and Makenzie Keeler drew two-out walks in the top of the first, but Alyssa Robens struck out.
O’Herien stayed wild in the second, issuing free passes to Sumida and Erika Siegel. Shayna Myshrall singled to load the bases with one out, but again J-D got thwarted, Emily Clapper striking out and Paige Sherling hitting a grounder to O’Herien, who forced Sumida out at home.
In each of the first three innings, Oneida got a runner on base against Sumida, but couldn’t capitalize, either. In fact, Sumida didn’t allow a hit until the fifth, by which point J-D had a 2-0 lead.
It was Sumida starting the rally for J-D in the top of the fourth with a single. Gunther walked for a second time, and Myshrall walked, too, to again load the bases for Clapper, who this time delivered the clutch hit, a single that scored Sumida and Gunther.
Things turned, though, when Oneida replaced O’Herien with reliever Kylie Chesebro. Facing a pressure situation of two runners in scoring position with one out, Chesebro walked Sherling to again load the bases, but coaxed O’Hern to fly out, too shallow for a run to score, and then struck out Keeler.
Meanwhile, Sumida faced her first crisis in the bottom of the fifth. An error allowed Natalie Marshall and reach and Lauren Skibitski doubled, Oneida’s first hit on the game. With two out, a wild pitch scored Skibitski, but Julia Fairbanks’ diving catch prevented further damage.
The Indians resumed its push in the bottom of the sixth, Hannah Begay and Samantha Lusher drawing walks before Chesebro singled up the middle, scoring Begay with the tying run.
J-D couldn’t answer against Chesebro, who ended up throwing 3 2/3 shutout innings, and kept the game 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Oneida’s Lizzy LaSalle led off with a walk, with Lexi Skibitski moving her over to second on a sacrifice bunt before a wild pitch landed LaSalle on third base with one out.
Up stepped Lauren Skibitski. Adding to her earlier RBI double, Skibitski sent a clean single up the middle, and LaSalle raced home with the run that gave the Indians its second straight sectional title.
