Still in the midst of its own fight to get into the post-season, the Cazenovia softball made a serious upset bid at OHSL Liberty division-leading Solvay last Monday night, but fell to the Bearcats 4-1, foretelling the week ahead.
Holly Gamlen’s hit drove home Rachel McLaughlin in the top of the first inning, and Cazenovia kept that 1-0 lead until the bottom of the third, when Solvay tied it up.
For the most part, pitcher Nicole Chiarello did a superb job silencing the Bearcats’ potent hitters, holding them to five hits and striking out four. But in the bottom of the sixth, with the game still 1-1, Solvay broke through for three decisive runs, and Jackie Gardner, who had nine strikeouts, tossed a scoreless seventh to end it.
Even more frustration followed in Wednesday’s 10-9, 10-inning defeat to Homer, a game where a bigger lead got away.
Cazenovia lit up Trojans pitcher Taryn Heath for six runs in the top of the first, and were up 7-0 through two innings. Josie Chiarello, on her way to three hits, recorded three RBIs, while Haley O’Brien drove in two runs and scored three times. McLaughlin added three hits and two runs scored.
But after Homer’s main hurler, Alyssa Morgan, took over, the Lakers managed just one more run the rest of the way, in the fifth. By then, the Trojans were catching up, within 8-5, and it stunned Cazenovia with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull even.
They stayed tied through the eighth and ninth innings. In the 10th, when a runner gets put on second base, the Lakers could not convert, but Homer did. Morgan, aside from her relief pitching, also hit a home run and finished with three RBIs.
This led to a rematch with Homer 24 hours later. It proved far quieter at the plate, but Cazenovia met with the same result, losing to the Trojans 3-1.
Nicole Chiarello held Homer’s potent lineup to six hits and amassed 10 strikeouts, one of her highest totals of the season. Chiarello added two doubles at the plate.
The Lakers kept the game 1-1 for a while, tying it in the bottom of the third on Nicole White’s RBI single that scored Josie Chiarello. However, Homer inched back in front with single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.
