Continuing to set the pace in the OHSL Freedom division, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team turned back a trio of OHSL Freedom division foes as part of a crowded week of action, both inside and outside Central New York.
shut out Mexico 12-0 last Monday afternoon, with Kerri Keeler allowing two hits and three walks while striking out eight in six innings of work before Alyssa Robens closed it out.
A four-run first inning set the tone, and it was 9-0 through three innings. Maggie Austin’s pair of hits led to four RBIs, while Erica Siegel scored twice and drove in two runs. Emily Clapper got three hits as she, along with Robens, Alexis Cantor and Paige Sherling, scored twice. Julia Fairbanks and Carly O’Hern added RBIs of their own.
What followed, on Thursday, was a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Cortland where Keeler limited the Purple Tigers to three hits and amassed a season-best 15 strikeouts.
Still, J-D had to work to get to Cortland pitcher Cady Walts, erasing an early 1-0 deficit with a tying run in the fourth and two runs in the bottom of the sixth to go in front. O’Hern went three-for-three, earning a pair of RBIs, while Robens had two hits and scored twice. Austin added an RBI.
Then, on Saturday, J-D blanked Fulton 6-0, jumping out with five runs in the first two innings as Cantor doubled, tripled and finished with three RBIs. Clapper and Keeler each scored twice as, in yet another pitching gem, Keeler overcame six Red Raiders hits and nearly matched her strikeout total from the Cortland game, finishing with 14 K’s.
Fayetteville-Manlius took a tough 1-0 defeat to Central Square last Monday afternoon. Even though Megan Bright held the Red Hawks to four hits, she still gave up the game’s lone run in the fourth inning on Maureen Coleman’s single.
Try as it could, the Hornets managed just one hit, by Marissa Madill. Otherwise, Kelsey Morgan kept them at bay with 16 strikeouts as part of her complete-game effort.
F-M went on to a 16-1 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse on Thursday, but rebounded later that day to beat Oswego 16-5, roaring out to a 9-0 lead on the Buccaneers by the third inning and adding seven more runs in the latter stages.
Bright augmented her pitching effort with three hits, four runs scored and four RBIs. Teegan Shaw and Rachel O’Byrne each drove in two runs, with Anna Porter, Alex Lunderman and Haley Hajduk adding one RBI apiece.
CBA broke into the win column last Monday, doubling up Syracuse West 14-7. A 1-1 tie was broken when the Brothers got seven total runs in the third and fourth inning, but it still needed a five-run sixth inning to put West away.
Jessica Valerino, with four hits and three RBIs, and Catherine Burns, who drove in four runs, led CBA at the plate. Monica Hanson scored twice and drove in a pair of runs as Hannah Morris led the Brothers by scoring three runs. Claire Pierret and Sydney Wind each got a pair of hits.
Yet that game paled next to the wild adventure the Brothers undertook when it played Fulton on Thursday afternoon and, despite a massive run total, still lost to the Red Raiders 22-21.
Down 6-0, CBA used six runs in the third inning to tie it. And that was just the start as it added 12 more runs in the next three innings and, up 18-11, appeared to be safe.
But Fulton stunned the Brothers with eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to go back in front 19-18. CBA appeared to recover with three runs in the top of the seventh, only to see the Red Raiders tie it and win it in its half of the seventh.
Hanson went four-for-six, scored four runs and managed five RBIs. Kaitlyn Wendl drove in four runs, while Valerino and Pierret each drove in two runs. Gabby Damico also scored four runs.
Things settled down on Friday, against Cortland, but CBA lost again, 7-4, gaining a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but watching the Purple Tigers get all of its runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Bishop Grimes, who traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a week’s worth of games, lost, 8-3, to a fellow traveler, Marcellus, last Tuesday afternoon.
The Cobars were unable to overcome the Mustangs’ 5-0 start in the first two innings as it got just five hits off Mustangs pitching ace Molly MacLachlan, who finished with 10 strikeouts. But Grimes recovered Wednesday to beat Mercyhurst Prep 7-1.
East Syracuse-Minoa’s spring break trip to Myrtle Beach included some tough opponents. The Spartans lost, 15-9, to a local team from Myrtle Beach in its opening game, squandering an early 5-3 lead as Courtney Legare and Brittany Evans each drove in two runs. The Spartans also lost, 9-2, to Ryken and fell 11-0 to Lenoir later in the week.
