Everyone was in anticipatory mode for the April 27 softball showdown between Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse at the Gillette Road complex, but a pair of defeats by the Northstars in the first full week of league competition tempered the hype.
A day after losing, 11-0, to Liverpool, Central Square turned around and, with a dramatic rally in the bottom of the seventh inning, stunned the Northstars 6-5, the first time that the Redhawks had ever beaten C-NS on the softball diamond.
C-NS scored three times in the first inning, but Central Square answered with three runs in the bottom of the second. It stayed 3-3 until the fifth, when the Northstars scored twice. Jessica Callisto had two RBIs, with Paige Critella, Brandi Feeney and Breanna Melfi driving in one run apiece.
Megan Tully carried that 5-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Then Central Square loaded the bases and, with one swing, the Redhawks’ Chelsie Thomas ended it, doubling to the gap and bringing home the three runs her team needed to win.
Stunned by this turn of events, the Northstars returned to the Gillette Road complex Thursday and saw that it hadn’t recovered yet, falling 4-1 to the Baldwinsville Bees.
Mostly, C-NS hurt itself on the defensive side. B’ville, who beat West Genesee 4-3 in 11 innings earlier in the week, got single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings, with errant throws from C-NS fielders directly leading to two of those runs.
Meanwhile, the Northstars managed just five hits and a sixth-inning tally against Bees pitcher Keanna Wolcik, who used a wide variety of speeds on her deliveries to amass 13 strikeouts.
Before the shocker at Central Square, C-NS gained a 16-4 win over Fayetteville-Manlius, scoring runs in each of the first five innings, capped by a seven-run third where it batted around.
On the way to 19 hits (and helped by nine Hornets errors), the Northstars saw all 10 of its players get at least one hit. Victoria Dunn and Julianna Vassallo led with three hits apiece, with Critella recording three RBIs. Feeney and Melfi each drove in a pair of runs as Dunn and Lauren Floyd both scored four times. Gabriella Corasaniti pitched all seven innings, striking out four.
The loss to Central Square forced C-NS to deal with its first real adversity of the season, and then turn around on Thursday to meet Baldwinsville, who had gone 11 innings to beat West Genesee 4-3 earlier in the week.
While all this was going on, Liverpool, fresh off its perfect 6-0 jaunt through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during the spring break, kept Central Square off the board as Peyton Bellrose tossed a one-hit shutout, striking out 11.
Though the Warriors didn’t have a big inning, none was needed against the Redhawks. Liverpool built a 5-0 lead through two innings, and then tacked on six more runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Bellrose led here, too, joining Alicia Hansen as they each got three hits and three RBIs. Jenna Wike also drove in two runs as Dominique LaRose and Joelle Nesci had one RBI apiece.
