One victory by the Baldwinsville softball team over Cicero-North Syracuse was remarkable. Getting two of them would make any season memorable.
And the Bees nearly pulled it off, giving the defending state Class AA champion Northstars another tough battle last Monday afternoon and leading late, only to take a tough 4-3 defeat.
The two sides exchanged runs in the third inning and C-NS scored a run in the fourth to go in front 2-1. It stayed that way until the sixth, when B’ville got to C-NS pitching ace Megan Tully for two runs to claim the lead. Isabella May scored two of the Bees’ runs, with Serena Capsello scoring the other.
Meanwhile, Keeanna Wolcik, the same pitcher who tamed the Northstars 2-1 on April 3 at Gillette Field, was on the brink of doing the same here, carrying that one-run lead into the top of the seventh, but seeing C-NS poke across the tying and go-ahead runs.
All told, Wolcik gave up six hits and struck out two, but Tully, who managed to get the final three outs to prevent any B’ville comeback, managed 11 strikeouts. Only May was able to get two hits off Tully.
With that big game past them, the Bees had another one Wednesday, at state Class AA no. 5-ranked Liverpool, but this one did not prove as close as it lost a 10-4 decision to the Warriors.
What made it more frustrating was that, in the top of the first inning, B’ville jumped on Liverpool Dana Nicoletti for four runs, two of them driven home on Kyra Hunsinger’s single as Elizabeth Johns doubled home a run.
But then Peyton Bellrose replaced Nicoletti and, over the course of the remaining 6 1/3 innings, kept the Bees silent, only allowing one hit and striking out six.
Meanwhile, Emma Bernet, in her first start since her perfect game against Syracuse East on May 9, was hit hard in the bottom of the first as Liverpool answered B’ville’s scoring outburst with one of its own, netting five runs.
And as Bellrose shut the door, the Warriors tacked on runs in four of the next five innings, too, against Bernet and Sara Napolitano, racking up 13 hits, two of them by Bellrose, who managed three RBIs as Katie Yudin added two hits and two RBIs.
Back home on Thursday afternoon, B’ville craved a victory over a quality opponent – and got it, fighting hard to beat the Central Square Red Hawks 3-1.
Wolcik was superb, holding the Red Hawks to just one hit and one walk while striking out six. As if that wasn’t enough, Wolcik also managed two hits and two RBIs, while Johns drove in the other run against Central Square ace Kelsey Morgan.
