Much would be learned by the Solvay and Westhill softball teams in their head-to-head clash on Wednesday afternoon.
And for the moment, it’s the Bearcats holding the upper hand, improving to 9-1 on the season with a 6-2 victory that completed a regular-season sweep of the Warriors.
The two sides had first met April 4, where Solvay, at home, prevailed 12-6. The rematch would prove closer, at least most of the way.
They traded runs in the third inning, and Westhill inched ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. That didn’t last long, though, as Solvay inched in front with single runs in the fifth and sixth before a three-run seventh inning put it away.
Sydney Cimini led Solvay with three hits, two of them doubles. Julie Gardner scored twice and Brenna Poli earned a pair of RBIs as Cimini, Kiersten DiBello and Taylor Guinta each drove in one run.
Jackie Gardner pitched quite well, too. She held Westhill star Kelly Mascari without a hit, content to walk her twice rather than have her get any kind of good swing. Carrie Griffo managed three hits and Gwen Dougherty added two hits.
This was the first of big back-to-back local games for Solvay, and there wasn’t any letdown on Thursday as the Bearcats roared from behind to get a 6-4 victory over Marcellus.
For five innings, the Mustangs ruled, steadily building a 4-0 lead behind five total hits from Meghan Witkowski and Shannon Donahue. Angela Gonnella scored a pair of runs as Nicole Wynne, Jennie Delia and Heather Hanlon each had one RBI.
Pitcher Molly MacLachlan held up until the sixth, when Solvay got a pair of runs to cut the deficit in half, to 4-2. That only served as an appetizer, though, for in the top of the seventh the Bearcats erupted for four runs to seize the lead.
With her double and two RBIs, Julie Gardner led the comeback. Chelsie Delperuto scored twice, while DiBello, Guinta and Nicole Antonacci drove in one run apiece.
Before all this, Solvay swept a doubleheader from Hannibal and Westhill shutting out Jordan-Elbridge 14-0 last Monday afternoon.
Solvay won the first game of the twin bill with Hannibal by a 7-1 margin. Three-run rallies in the second and fourth innings proved enough as Antonacci had two RBIs. Delperuto and Jackie Gardner, who pitched a two-hitter, each tripled, while DiBello and Guinta earned one RBI apiece.
The nightcap went 17-0 in Solvay’s favor, with 18 hits in just five innings. Delperuto smashed a home run, scored three times and had a season-best six RBIs. Antonacci scored four runs, with Shanen Sullivan matching Delperuto’s three-run effort. DiBello and Brenna Poli each scored twice.
In Westhill’s win over J-E, Mascari, who had hit four home runs in her last outing at Skaneateles, kept on mashing the ball, especially in an 11-run third inning. All told, she had three hits, including a double, and piled up five RBIs, giving her 15 RBIs in two games.
Erica Lobello added two hits and two RBIs, while Griffo, Kathleen Clark and Mackenzie Davis also drove in Westhill runs. The big margin meant that Mascari only had to pitch five innings, holding J-E to three hits, two of them by Alexis Rouse.
Marcellus opened its week with a 10-2 defeat to Homer, watching as the Trojans gained a 4-0 lead by the third inning and added two runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames to get clear.
MacLachlan, who took the loss, did have a triple and RBI at the plate. Three different Homer players – Cheyenne Gaffney, Kristen Fuller and Kelsey Root – each drove in two runs.
And the Mustangs followed it up Wednesday by beating Cazenovia 8-5, breaking through with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to erase a 1-0 deficit. The lead was 6-1 when the Lakers closed the gap to 6-5 in the top of the sixth, but Marcellus got two runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth and was not caught again.
Gonnella’s pair of doubles led to a team-best three RBIs. McBride doubled, tripled and drove in two runs, while Clare Manahan also had a pair of RBIs. Shannon Donahue scored twice.
