Just about any time the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team meets up with East Syracuse-Minoa, the records – and the relative degrees of success both programs have attained – matters little.
It certainly didn’t matter much last Thursday afternoon, when the Spartans gave yet another scare to the its neighbor and main rival in the OHSL Freedom division before two late runs helped the Red Rams gained a 7-5 victory.
Unbeaten in two games, ESM sent Danielle Ventrone to the mound to face J-D’s Kerri Keeler, and the Spartans got to Keeler for a run in the top of the first inning, Ventrone keeping that 1-0 lead until the third, when the Rams evened it up.
More tension came in the fourth inning, as ESM scored twice to regain the lead, 3-1, but J-D had a quick answer with two runs in the bottom of that frame.
When the Rams scored twice more in the bottom of the fifth to break the 3-3 tie and get its first lead, ESM didn’t flinch, getting two runs of its own in the top of the sixth, and they were again even, 5-5, going to the bottom of the sixth.
With one out, Emily Clapper singled. Then Paige Sherling bunted, intending to sacrifice Clapper to second. Instead, a wild throw to first allowed Clapper to sprint all the way home, and Sherling notched an insurance run when Alexis Cantor doubles.
Though Keeler was far from sharp, allowing six hits and six walks, she did pitch a scoreless seventh inning to end it, finishing with 10 strikeouts.
Clapper had three of J-D’s 12 hits, while Alyssa Robens hit a solo home run and Julia Fairbanks managed two RBIs. Ventrone led ESM at the plate, too, recording three hits and an RBI.
