Having absorbed a 10-2 defeat to Liverpool on April 26, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team used that result as fuel for a stretch of dominant play once it returned to the Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division.
J-D, who was no. 10 in the first state Class A rankings of the season, took apart Auburn 22-1 last Monday in a five-inning contest, the mercy rule invoked when the Red Rams, already in front 5-0, erupted for 13 runs in the top of the third inning.
Katie White homered, doubled and drove in four runs, with Andrea Sumida also getting four RBIs as she scored four times.
Sarina Alexander matched White with three hits as she, along with Shayna Myshrall, Amanda Sumida and Paige Keeler, earned two RBIs apiece. Kate Dorazio scored three runs. Amanda Sumida pitched only allowed one hit, striking out eight.
More runs followed in Tuesday’s game at Fulton, and while it didn’t reach the same volume as with Auburn, J-D still put away the Red Raiders 13-5.
Building an 11-1 advantage by the third inning, the Rams got 16 hits overall, three each by Myshrall, Alexander and Keeler. Alexander tripled and drove in four runs as Myshrall and Austin had two RBIs apiece. Andrea Sumida scored three times as she, along with Keeler, White and Taylor Roadarmel, each drove in one run.
J-D faced Oswego on Thursday afternoon, and scored nine runs in the first inning, yet still needed some late-game production to outlast the Buccaneers 15-9.
Oswego fought back to within one, 9-8, by the fifth inning, so the Rams had to get a run in that frame and put together a five-run sixth inning to get away for good.
Amanda Sumida had a team-high three hits. Myshrall drove in three runs, with Keeler, Austin and both Sumida sisters driving in two runs as White and Roadarmel had one RBI apiece. In defeat, the Bucs got two doubles and four RBIs from Nichole Donahue.
When J-D played on Saturday against two visiting Section VI teams from the Buffalo suburbs, it won neither of those games, falling 5-3 to Williamsville North and 10-1 to Williamsville South.
But the Rams bounced back Sunday in two games at Cicero-North Syracuse’s “Strike Out Cancer” event, defeating Guilderland 4-2 and then shutting out Cohoes 9-0 to improve its overall record to 10-3.
ESM entered the week still a bit weary after an April 27 battle with Syracuse City that stretched out to 10 innings before the Spartans took a 4-3 defeat. Neither side got a run in the seven innings of regulation, but ESM and Syracuse both scored in the eighth inning.
It stayed 1-1 until the 10th, when the Spartans scored twice, but Syracuse got three runs to prevail. In defeat, Sam Short had two hits and two RBIs as Franchesca Polcaro had two hits and scored a pair of runs.
Things did not improve on Tuesday for the Spartans, who lost 13-3 to Oswego. By the time it got on the board in the fifth inning, the Spartans already trailed the Bucs 7-0, unable to fully recover.
Polcaro was the lone ESM batter to get two hits. Mackenzie Rivers and Shaina Brilbeck had one RBI apiece as Lucy Hager and Caley Prego scored runs. Oswego’s Amber Tickle broke out for three of the Bucs’ 20 hits, including a home run, and earned five RBIs.
Yet another decision went against the Spartans last Wednesday as it fell to Central Square 6-5, unable to hold the 3-1 lead it gained when it scored three times in the bottom of the third.
The Redhawks used a five-run rally in the top of the fifth to go in front, and though ESM got two runs in the bottom of the fifth, it could not quite catch up as Central Square pitcher Riley Broadwell blanked them over the last two innings.
Short took the loss, though she did get seven strikeouts and added two hits, plus an RBI, in her work at the plate. Polcaro and Gillianne McCarthy also had two hits as they each scored twice.
At last, the skid was broken on Thursday as ESM fought past Fulton 10-8. It required the Spartans to overcome a 5-2 deficit as it notched single runs in each of the first four innings before scoring twice in the fifth to take the lead.
Still, a four-run sixth inning was needed because Fulton nearly erased a 10-5 deficit in the bottom of the seventh before the Spartans got the final out. Holly Carr doubled, tripled and drove in three runs as Prego and Natalie Quonce had two RBIs apiece. McCarthy and Polcaro also drove in runs.
