In three diffrent Section III playoff brackets, a trio of local softball teams made it past Thursday’s opening round. Canastota, kicking off the defense of its Class B championship, survived a tense battle with Ilion to post a 2-0 shutout over the Golden Bombers. As this was going on, Hamilton, in Class D, began with a 7-1 victory over Copenhagen, and Vernon Verona Sherrill made it through the Class A opening round, edging past Indian River 6-5. For Canastota, the no. 4 seed in Class B, things nearly ended in a hurry as Jessica Patterelli found herself in a fierce pitching battle with Ilion’s Erica Giruzzi. Neither side could score for five innings as it stayed 0-0. Patterelli, throwing a three-hitter, finally got the Raiders’ offense moving in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff single. Alicia Hibbard walked on four pitches, and after Alexis Havens popped out, Valerie Baer lined a single, and Patterelli raced home with the game’s first run. Emily Harp’s infield hit brought Hibbard home, and Patterelli did the rest, closing out a complete-game shutout with her ninth, 10th and 11th strikeouts of the day. Hamilton, no. 15 in the state Class D rankings, had a little less suspense as the no. 3 seed in Class D as it took out no. 14 seed Copenhagen. Run-scoring hits by Jenna Whyatt, Rebecca Rogers and Katherine Keever in the second inning pushed the Emerald Knights in front, and four more runs followed. Sam Martin reached all four times with three hits and a walk, earning a pair of RBIs as she also pitched a complete game, giving up nine hits but constantly getting out of trouble. Defense helped on that latter point, as catcher Kelly Watkins twice threw out Copenhagen runners in the top of the fifth to help Martin get out of a bases-loaded jam. Good as those games were, VVS, the no. 7 seed in Class A, topped them by making a strong comeback against no. 10 seed Indian River. Unfazed by its long road trip from the north country, the Warriors tagged Red Devils pitcher Stephanie Siriano for five runs in the top of the second inning to overcome an early 2-0 VVS lead, three of the runs coming home on Paige Morgia’s bases-clearing double. VVS quickly responded with three runs in the bottom of the third to tie it, 5-5, then inched ahead with a run in the fourth as, once again, Siriano stood out with her all-around effort. At the plate, Siriano banged a home run and double, finishing with three RBIs as Dominique Coy and Courtney Smith each finished with two hits. Siriano limited IR to three hits overall and earned 13 strikeouts as she protected that slim lead over the last three innings. Canastota will play no. 5 seed South Jefferson in Saturday’s Class B quarterfinals, while VVS tries to topple no. 2 seed Homer in Class and Hamilton, in Class D, meets no. 11 seed Alexandria Bay.