In order for the Baldwinsville softball team to present itself as a legitimate challenger to Cicero-North Syracuse atop the Class AA ranks, it first had to work past other top-level opponents – and that proved difficult.
A key part of this process was last Monday’s game against Central Square, where the Bees trailed in the late going, but rallied to edge the Red Hawks 3-2.
Central Square went up 1-0 in the first inning, but B’ville tied it in the top of the second. They stayed even until the fifth, when the Red Hawks again earned a run off Bees ace Liz Campbell.
Trailing 2-1, B’ville stayed calm and, in the sixth, pulled even again, which set up a tense seventh inning. The Bees moved in front for the first time, and Campbell, who struck out four and gave up seven hits, recorded the final three outs to help her side hang on.
B’ville won despite getting just three hits, one each from Isabella May, Danielle Sayler and Caryn Salce. May’s double drove in a run and she, along with Destiny Peck, scored one run apiece.
Trying to make it back-to-back wins a day later at West Genesee, the Bees could not pull it off, falling 5-1 to the Wildcats because it could not capitalize on a host of scoring opportunities.
B’ville had seven hits to WG’s five, but only managed a single run, in the third, scored by Salce, that tied it 1-1. The Wildcats quickly answered with two runs in the bottom of the third and pulled away with two more runs in the sixth.
Meanwhile, the Bees kept getting runners on base against Wildcat pitcher Morgan Nichols, only to strand them as Nichols got seven strikeouts and timely defensive plays behind her.
Back home on Thursday to face Auburn, the Bees trailed all game long and made a frantic late comeback, but fell just short in a 5-4 defeat to the Maroons.
Auburn got to Campbell for three runs in the first inning. From there, she settled down, only giving up single tallies in the third and fifth innings as she recorded eight strikeouts.
Meanwhile, the Bees, down 4-0, cut the deficit in half by scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth, and after the Maroons’ run in the fifth, it got tense in the seventh as B’ville got two more runs, pulling within one, before Auburn pitcher Ali VanGiesen picked up the final out.
It was two-run home runs from Sayler and Sydney Carlucci that made things tight at the end. Morgan Enge led Auburn with two hits and two RBIs.
All of this left B’ville at 6-4 for the season heading into a brutal week where it would face Liverpool, Rome Free Academy and C-NS on consecutive days before a Friday game against Syracuse East.