Nearly two weeks after it was supposed to get underway, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team finally did so, and reminded everyone why the path to Section III Class A glory still runs right through them.
The long-awaited opener pitted the Red Rams against Christian Brothers Academy, and with one big fourth inning, J-D put the Brothers away and rolled to a 14-0 victory.
Neither team had scored a run when, in the fourth, the Rams erupted against CBA pitcher Monica Hanson. Going around the order once (and nearly twice), J-D didn’t let up until it had scored 10 runs, helped in no small part by poor defense from the Brothers, who finished with six errors.
Emily Clapper led J-D with a team-high four hits, while Kerri Keeler went three-for-three. Clapper, Hannah Gunther, Carly O’Hern and Erica Siegel each drove in two runs, while Alyssa Robens had a double and RBI and Keeler also drive in a run.
Keeler, returning as J-D’s ace in the pitcher’s circle, struck out 13 batters in her five innings of work, giving up just two hits before Robens worked the last two innings in relief.
As a follow-up on Saturday, the Red Rams shut out Chittenango 13-0, getting a one-hitter from Keeler that included 15 strikeouts.
J-D got all of its runs in the second through fifth innings as Siegel managed three hits, four runs scored and two RBIs. O’Hern, Clapper and Gunther matched that two-RBI effort, with O’Hern getting three hits and three runs scored. Alexis Cantor and Julia Fairbanks had one RBI apiece.
East Syracuse-Minoa, always a prime challenger to J-D’s throne, had its opener at Cortland, a tense and low-scoring affair where a single late rally proved enough for the Spartans to edge past the Purple Tigers 2-1.
For five innings, it stayed 0-0, pitchers Danielle Ventrone (for ESM) and Cady Walts (for Cortland) in control, but in the top of the sixth the Spartans got to Walts for both of its runs as Ventrone tripled home Tiffany Evans and then raced to the plate on an error.
With that 2-0 lead, Ventrone maintained the shutout until the bottom of the seventh, when the Purple Tigers’ Raeanna Dunn doubled and raced home. But Ventrone got the final out to preserve her team’s slim margin as she gave up just four hits all afternoon, striking out seven.
ESM played again two days later against CBA and outscored the Brothers 15-8. A five-run fourth inning helped the Brothers erase the Spartans’ 5-2 lead, but in response ESM got a run in the fifth and then erupted for 10 runs in the top of the sixth to go in front for good.
Brittany Evans and Haley Albertson both drove in three runs, with Courtney Legare and Taylor Cassella gaining two RBIs apiece. Ventrone, Mindy Somers and Alissa Daly also had RBIs as, for CBA, Catherine Burns and Gabby Damico each tripled and drove in runs, with Claire Pierret adding a double and two RBIs.
Fayetteville-Manlius, who had won its season opener at Syracuse West on April 2, returned to the field nearly a week later, and lost an 8-3 decision to Baldwinsville.
The Bees had stunned reigning state Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse 2-1 in its season opener, and that confidence carried over as it jumped on the Hornets for four first-inning runs and added three more runs in the third.
Megan Bright took the loss, even as she pitched well from the fourth inning onward. F-M did get on the board in the sixth, scoring all three of its runs as Rachel O’Byrne doubled twice and Markayla Madill added a pair of hits.
In Thursday’s 11-3 defeat to West Genesee, the Hornets never recovered from a seven-run Wildcat outburst in the top of the first inning.
The deficit grew to 11-0 before F-M got all of its runs off WG pitcher Morgan Nichols in the bottom of the fifth. Teegan Shaw’s triple led to an RBI as Anna Porter and Sam Guillaume also drove in runs during that rally. Jenna Amidon led the Wildcats with two hits and three RBIs.
