To get to double digits in the win column, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team first had to get past its neighbors from Christian Brothers Academy on Friday afternoon.
Thanks to some potent bats, the Red Rams did so, beating the Brothers 11-5 to complete a regular-season sweep, having knocked off CBA 7-4 back on April 12.
Never trailing, J-D (10-2) got to pitching ace Jordan Sheridan with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. After CBA cut it to 4-3 in the top of the fourth, the Rams countered with four more runs in the bottom of the fourth, and the Brothers were never close again.
Tessa Devereaux had three of J-D’s 13 hits, including a doubles, scoring twice and earning a season-best four RBIs. Rachel Honis singled, doubled and drove in two runs, while Mary Young, Deb Toscano, Lateja Bryant and Maddy Devereaux had one RBI apiece.
Neither team was consistent on defense, as CBA made six errors and J-D had three errors. But the Brothers had just five hits off Kerri Keeler, who recorded 11 strikeouts.
This wild week started when both J-D and CBA lost last Monday afternoon – the Red Rams 5-0 to Phoenix, the Brothers 5-4 to Chittenango.
For the second game in a row, J-D could not get a run off Phoenix ace Brittney Sears, who blanked the Rams 2-0 on April 14 at Lyndon.
This time around, J-D got five hits and coaxed Sears into a pair of walks, but the Phoenix ace struck out 10 and stayed patient, waiting for her team’s bats to wake up.
It was still 0-0 when, in the bottom of the fifth, Phoenix got to Keeler for three runs and tacked on two more runs an inning later. Jenna Zaia led the way, her double and triple leading to four RBIs.
CBA’s loss was far more surprising, given that it had just come off back-to-back wins over Phoenix (1-0) and East Syracuse-Minoa (2-1 in eight innings), and Chittenango was going through a mid-season slump and had just lost 7-0 to Fayetteville-Manlius.
Here, though, the Bears went ahead 2-1 with a pair of third-inning runs and, after CBA reclaimed the lead 3-2 in the top of the fourth, Chittenango tied it again in the bottom of that frame.
And there it stayed until the seventh, when the Bears put home the winning run against Sheridan, who only managed five strikeouts and allowed eight hits, two each to sisters Brianna and Kaleigh Koegel. Molly O’Brien and Clare Gollegly led CBA, each with two hits and an RBI.
On Wednesday, the Brothers did prevail, 1-0, over Central Square in an eight-inning, non-league contest. It was 0-0 until the bottom of the eighth. O’Brien doubled and came around to score the game’s only run on Kelly Bewley’s single. All told, Bewley had three hits, with Jessica Valerino adding two hits. Sheridan struck out 12 and held the Red Hawks to seven hits.
