By the smallest possible margin, the Marcellus softball team put an end to the season of its biggest on-field rival.
The no. 7 seed Mustangs met no. 10 seed Skaneateles in last Tuesday’s opening round of the Section III Class B-1 playoffs, and it turned into a tense pitcher’s battle where the Mustangs edged the Lakers 1-0.
After a first-inning threat died, Marcellus got on board in the bottom of the second. Alicia Hunt walked, went to second on a ground, took third base on a wild pitch and came home when Lyssa Filtch laced an RBI single.
From there, Skaneateles pitcher Alex Hughes faced a couple of more Mustang threats, but kept the hosts off the board, forcing Marcellus pitcher Gina Cardarelli to protect a one-run margin.
Through six innings, Cardarelli had a one-hitter, with nine strikeouts — but in the top of the seventh, Skaneateles came awfully close to going in front.
With one out, Erica Tardiff walked, and Alexis Jones singled, putting the go-ahead run on base. Bearing down one more time, Cardarelli struck out Caryn Crary, her 10th K of the day, and forced Kate Driscoll to ground out to Marissa Bankey at third base to end it.
All this helped Marcellus get a long road trip east, to Thursday’s B-2 quarterfinal against no. 2 seed Sherburne-Earlville.
