One big challenge for the Cazenovia softball team is the mere presence of two state-ranked powerhouses, Solvay and Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, within the OHSL Liberty division.
Going up against APW last Monday afternoon, the Lakers ended a long layoff and found it difficult to contain the Rebels in a 24-1 defeat shortened to five innings.
An eight-run first inning got APW going, and it added seven runs in the third. Rachel McLaughlin scored Cazenovia’s lone run in the fourth, but the Lakers did not get a hit off Rebels pitcher Amber Rice, who walked four and struck out 10.
DeShae Jones had four extra-base hits for APW, getting three doubles, a triple and four RBIs. Ellen Parker added three RBIs as Devin Jones and Katie Palmer both hit home runs.
In a complete reversal on Thursday afternoon, Cazenovia put up its own big run totals in its Laker showdown with Skaneateles, where it won the first game 16-10 and led the second game 7-2 when it was halted by darkness.
It was already 10-3 when, in the third inning of the opener, Maggie Johnson hit a home run, and that production helped pitcher Danielle Tedesco earn the win. Then, in the second game, McLaughlin and Johnson both recorded home runs, with Johnson doing so on an inside-the-park trip around the bases.
And even that was tame compared to Friday’s wild 20-19 victory over Jordan-Elbridge, where the Lakers led 9-0 early, but then saw the Eagles rally, so Cazenovia had to produce six runs in the seventh inning to fend off J-E’s seven-run effort in that same inning.
Getting 23 hits, the Lakers saw Josie Chiarello go five-for-six with three triples and five RBIs. McLaughlin’s four hits led to three RBIs, while Kimber Nourse also drove in three runs. Katie Davis got four hits, scoring three runs as Jamie Kempf matched that three-run total. Morgan Mapstone and Danielle Tedesco had two RBIs apiece.
Chittenango had plenty of its own struggles, starting last Tuesday with a 25-11 defeat to Marcellus where the Bears fell behind, 12-0, by the third inning, only to pull within 14-9 before the Mustangs used an 11-run sixth inning to wrap it up.
Morgan Shoemaker led the Bears’ comeback attempt, tripling and driving in three runs while scoring twice. Alexa Rossi had two hits and two RBIs, while Trisha Whaley, Nicole Myers, Sydney Bennett and Gretchen Burgan had one RBI apiece. Rylie Spicer and Dominique Weeks led Marcellus with five RBIs apiece, Weeks hitting the game’s only home run.
On Thursday afternoon, Chittenango lost, 10-4, to Cortland, who didn’t flinch when the Bears scored three runs in the top of the first, answering with five runs over its first two innings and then adding a five-run rally in the fourth that made up for most of the eventual margin.
Staying hot at the plate, Shoemaker did manage a pair of hits and scored two runs, with Whaley and Bennett also scoring runs. Ali Bustamante hit a home run for the Purple Tigers as she and Kacie Hubbard, who tripled twice, had three RBIs apiece.
It was a lot closer on Saturday, but Chittenango still took an 8-7 defeat to East Syracuse Minoa, a game made more frustrating by the fact that the Bears, trailing 5-3, scored three runs in the third inning and another run in the fourth to grab a 7-5 lead.
Yet it could not hold on, ESM getting three runs in the top of the sixth and blanking Chittenango in the last three innings. Prior to that, Bennett had doubled twice and produced three RBIs, with Whaley driving in a pair of runs. Shoemaker and Rossi had one RBI apiece.
