Action in the OHSL Liberty division among the area’s high school softball teams only grew in intensity even as everyone fought tough weather conditions in the transition from April to May.
Marcellus remained the strongest of those sides, proving this point in an impressive performance at Christian Brothers Academy last Thursday as the Mustangs shut out the Brothers 2-0.
CBA was the defending Section III Class B champions, and carried an 8-3 record into the game. And it seemed to be in top form as pitcher Maddy Tallman retired the first nine Marcellus batters she faced.
Aubrey Fraher allowed two hits in those first three frames, but kept it 0-0, and then ignited the decisive rally in the top of the fourth by drawing a leadoff walk.
Caroline Trytek’s bunt single saw Fraher speed to third base, and she scored on Evelyn Webster’s single. Ellie Mahoney’s grounder brought Trytek home.
Since the Mustangs couldn’t add to that two-run margin, Fraher had to protect it – and she did, working around doubles by Abby Benware in the fourth and Emily Hall in the sixth to maintain the shutout.
Finally, in the seventh, Tallman doubled, only to have a groundout turn into a double play when Elaine Grattan threw to Mahoney, who tagged out Tallman. Two batters later, Fraher coaxed Maura Clare Conan into a grounder for the final out.
Two days earlier, Marcellus blanked Chittenango 15-0 as Fraher held the Bears to two hits, striking out eight.
At the plate, Ellie Mahoney lit it up for the Mustangs with a triple, two singles and five RBIs. Fraher and Caroline Trytek each scored three runs as Emma MacLachlan added three hits and Emily Durand got two hits.
A far bigger game loomed on Thursday, with Marcellus challenging defending sectional Class B champion Christian Brothers Academy.
There were two close battles last Monday, with Solvay unable to hold two different leads in a 10-9 defeat to unbeaten Cazenovia while Skaneateles broke into the win column by edging Onondaga 6-5.
Against Cazenovia, Solvay took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring all of those runs with two outs, only to have the Lakers use three-run outburst in the third and fourth innings to move out in front.
Trailing 6-4, the Bearcats struck for five runs in the fifth, three driven home by Caitlin McCann’s double and two more by Jordan Bamba’s two-out single, but Cazenovia again rallied, netting three runs in the sixth, all with two outs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Izzy Lambert led off with a triple, but that tying run never got home, Cazenovia pitcher Samantha Morgan retiring McCann, Hannah Martineau and Allie Posnick in order, and then tossing a scoreless seventh inning to win it.
Meanwhile, at Skaneateles, the Lakers gave new head coach Alexis Abdo her first win in particularly exciting fashion, scoring twice in the bottom of the third to answer Onondaga’s three runs in the top of the third.
The Tigers made it 4-2 in the fourth, only to have Skaneateles pull even an inning later. It stayed 4-4 until the seventh, when OCS netted a run, but Skaneateles again tied it and then had Ryley Pas’cal drive in the winning run.
Both Riley and Tatumn Pas’Cal had two RBIs, with Carlee Pitman adding a single, double, two runs scored and an RBI. Hannah Blowers overcame nine Tigers hits to earn a complete-game win.
A day later, Skaneateles lost, 12-11, to Altmar-Parish-Willliamstown, a game where it led three different times at 4-0, 7-6, and 11-7, and saw the Rebels come back every time, scoring twice in the sixth and three times in the seventh to pull it out.
This happened despite Maeve Canty going four-for-four with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs. Ryley Pas’cal’s pair of doubles drove in four runs, with Tatumn Pas’cal and Lexi Cottrill each scoring three runs. APW’s Helaina Hale had two doubles and six RBIs.
