Anything the Westhill softball team did after claiming its first-ever Section III Class B title was just going to add to the history already attained.
Having lived off late-inning heroics, another opportunity for a comeback presented itself during last Wednesday’s Class B regional final against Section IV power Windsor at the BAGSAI complex near Binghamton.
But Windsor would not fall victim to the same rallies Jordan-Elbridge, Cazenovia and Canastota did before, taking control early and keeping it to end the Warriors’ exciting run in a 6-1 decision.
Just a few mistakes, here and there, allowed the Black Knights to put up three runs in the top of the first-inning off Westhill’s freshman pitching ace, Toni Secreti, in a game pushed back 24 hours by last Tuesday’s stormy weather.
Following a leadoff walk to Kelly Costello, Katie Goetz tried a sacrifice bunt, and Kayley Arsenault was unable to pick up the relay throw, an error.
Secreti’s wild pitch moved both runners over, and when Kristin Waldron hit a ground ball to Allison Haynes (scoring Costello), the throw to Arsenault at first got dropped, and Goetz raced home.
Just like that, it was 2-0, and with Waldron on second, Tenley Halaquist drove her home with a single, making it 3-0 before Westhill even got a chance to hit.
At the plate, though, the Warriors struggled just as much. Windsor pitcher Meghan Tucker blanked Westhill through the first six innings, giving up just two hits during that spell.
Meanwhile, the Warriors’ deficit doubled to 6-0, as a fourth-inning error by Alyssa Reale at second base brought home two more Black Knights runs and Tucker aided her own cause with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.
Westhill finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh, thanks to five consecutive singles (one of them by Secreti, who had the RBI), but it was far from enough.
Overall, the most successful softball team in Westhill history went 23-5, and has, in Secreti, a strong right arm that will be in place for the next three years.
Five seniors — Arsenault, Haynes, Katie Hartnett, Laura Gaspo and Lauren Kelly — depart. Reale, Emily Mangicaro, Brittany Kaiser, Courtney Morgan, Nicole Toth, Chelsea Trichillo, Shannon Flattery and Mary Bailey all could join Secreti in a returning 2009 lineup.
