Instead of a warm welcome back from the April school break, the Cazenovia softball and baseball teams both got slapped around for much of the ensuing week.
In softball, Cazenovia, off to a 1-3 start, returned from an eight-day break and ran into big trouble at Westhill, falling to the Warriors 16-1.
Nicole White’s double drove in the Lakers’ lone run in the top of the first inning. After Westhill tied it, the hosts scored four times in the second inning and got away with a fourth inning where nine Warriors crossed the plate.
The Lakers’ Nicole Chiarello had to pitch through all of it, giving up 20 hits, four each to Westhill teammates Andrea Golembiewski and Kathleen Clark. Clark and Kelly Mascari had three RBIs apiece.
Just as quickly, though, the Lakers turned it around on Wednesday as it returned home and put together a 12-3 victory over Hannibal.
Cazenovia took charge with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the second inning. Six more runs followed in the next three innings, including a four-run fourth, in support of pitcher Nicole White, who struck out seven in five innings of work.
To help her own cause, White managed three hits, including a double, and earned a pair of RBIs. Sarah Liddell, Josie Chiarello and Haley O’Brien matched White, driving in two runs apiece, while Maggie Johnson also got an RBI.
In the case of the baseball Lakers, it ran into a red-hot side from Westhill last Tuesday and could not get on the board in a 10-0 loss to the Warriors.
Westhill, who had gone a perfect 4-0 in its trip to Myrtle Beach, saw pitching ace Alex Godzak (who is headed to Canisius College) shut down Cazenovia, holding them to four hits, one each from Brian Gara, Tanner Whiteman, Alex Szlamczynski and Billy Bigsby.
Meanwhile, Gara lasted just 2 2/3 innings on the mound as Westhill used a four-run third to take charge. Whiteman and Mark Dewan saw relief stints.
Back home on Wednesday afternoon, the Lakers met Hannibal and did much better at the plate, but one bad inning proved costly in a 12-9 loss to the Warriors.
Through two innings, Cazenovia protected a 4-1 lead. Hannibal turned that around, though, when it blitzed the Lakers for seven runs in the top of the third, adding four more runs in the fourth.
Down 11-4, Cazenovia battled to the end, as Jack Malmsheimer doubled and drove in two runs, with Whiteman, Bigsby, David McEntee, Cullen Franz and Chad Warren each getting one RBI. Warren, Ryker Smith, Chris Matteson and Liam Rogers all pitched for the Lakers.
If the weather behaves, both of Cazenovia’s sides will confront Jordan-Elbridge, Solvay and Homer in the last full week of April.
