Even with a blemish at Christian Brothers Academy on May 15, the Cazenovia softball team still was in position to earn the Onondaga High School League Liberty American division regular-season championship.
To get it, the Lakers would have to beat Marcellus last Tuesday afternoon at the Sean Googin Sports Complex, and the effort was first-rate, but Cazenovia could not get much done at the plate in a 4-0 defeat to the Mustangs.
Cazenovia entered the game 13-1 and no. 22 in the state Class B rankings, with Marcellus in the no. 13 spot in those same state rankings. Both sides had 10-1 league records.
They were scoreless until the third inning, when the Mustangs got to Samantha Morgan for two runs. And it stayed that way until the top of the seventh, when Marcellus doubled that margin.
Morgan struck out five, but gave up 10 hits, three of them to Evelyn Webster, who was the Mustangs’ catalyst as Caroline Trytek had two hits and scored twice.
Yet even a single run was all that Marcellus pitcher Aubrey Fraher needed. Without surrendering a walk, Fraher, a freshman, limited Cazenovia to four hits, one each by Elora Wilmot, Hannah Matteson, Kylie Fenton and Autumn Paddock.
A day earlier, Cazenovia romped past Hannibal 24-1, a five-inning mercy rule game where the Lakers piled up 12 runs in the bottom of the first and 12 more runs in the three innings that followed.
And it was done with just 10 hits, Cazenovia accumulating 15 walks. Morgan had three of those free passes, getting two RBIs to match Matteson, Paddock and Helen Hausser as Fenton drove in three runs.
All of this left Cazenovia with the no. 6 seed for the Section III Class B playoffs, the Lakers meeting no. 11 seed Jordan-Elbridge in Tuesday’s opening round, the winner to get Adirondack or Altmar-Parish-Williamstown in the quarterfinals.
Chittenango faced Homer last Monday afternoon and lost a 6-3 decision to the Trojans, who broke out of a 1-1 tie with a pair of second-inning runs and scored at least once in five different innings.
The Bears lost despite out-hitting Homer 10-9, with Madison Wagner going three-for-three, including a triple, and scoring a run.
Savannah Penoyer and Abbie Austin had two hits apiece, Jenna Osborne and Lily Callahan also getting hits and Taylor Streiff earning an RBI. Marissa Cottrell and Hope Comfort led the Trojans with two RBIs apiece.
A day later, the Bears rebounded with a dramatic 6-5, nine-inning win over Skaneateles, claimed when Sydney Pellman stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth and, with a walk-off home run, ended the game.
Chittenango had led 4-1 through four innings, only to see Skaneateles use two-run rallies in the fifth and sixth to take a 5-4 lead before the Bears tied it in the bottom of the seventh, setting up Pellman’s winning blast.
All told, Pellman had three hits, joining Madison Wagner as they both got a pair of RBIs. Erika Soiberg doubled and drove in a run as Callahan and Avery Salce both scored twice.
Despite that win, Chittenango was unable to qualify for the sectional playoffs, so Pellman’s home run offered an exciting conclusion to the Bears’ season.
