Ideally, what the Liverpool softball team would like to do when it goes to South Glens Falls this Saturday for its second consecutive state Class AA final four appearance is something close to what it accomplished in the two games leading up to it.
Having dropped 24 runs on Utica Proctor in last Monday’s Section III final, the Warriors again stood out at the plate in Friday’s AA regional final against Section II champion Shenendehowa at the Gillette Road complex, with everyone in the order, from the first through ninth hitters, making key contributions in a 10-5 victory over the Plainsmen.
Senior Alicia Hansen, who had three hits and three RBIs, said the fact that the entire lineup is potent is a problem for any future opponent.
“If our one through nine hitters can hit, it puts pressure on the other team,” said Hansen.
Liverpool went right to work against Shen pitcher Abby Shields in the top of the first inning. Erika Sadowski led off by getting hit by a wayward Shields pitch, moving to third on a sacrifice bunt and stolen base before Hansen singled Sadowski home.
Initially, the Plainsmen hit it hard, too, against Warriors ace Peyton Bellrose, tying it in the bottom of the first on Nicole McCarvill’s double and then, an inning later, grabbing a 2-1 lead with a single, double, and error on a squeeze bunt throw to third.
Still trailing by that 2-1 margin going to the bottom of the fourth, Liverpool began to find its rhythm at the plate – but not from its usual suspects like Hansen or Bellrose.
Instead, it was hits from Jenna Wike and Katie Yudin that put two runners in scoring position, and it was no. 9 hitter Gina Meyers delivering the two-out single that scored Wike and Yudin, giving the Warriors a 3-2 lead.
Though Shen tied it again, 3-3, in the bottom of the fourth, the Warriors regained the lead for good an inning later. Dominique LaRose doubled, and then went home when the Syracuse University-bound Hansen delivered her second run-scoring single of the day, Hansen also scoring on Wike’s grounder.
That set the table for the decisive sixth inning. Again, Meyers was in the middle of it, hitting a one-out double and crossing the plate on Sadowski’s single.
LaRose and Hansen both singled, the latter hit driving home Sadowski. When Bellrose walked, that loaded the bases, and while Wike hit into a force play, Yudin all but settled matters with a bases-clearing triple that extended the lead to 10-3.
Yudin said that she, along with the other Liverpool batters, figured out that Shields liked to work inside. By adjusting their swings, they were able to get consistent contact, and plenty of runs.
That cushion was needed. Fighting to the end, Shen scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh before Taryn Marra grounded out to end the game.
Now heading back to Moreau Recreation Park in South Glens Falls, where it lost the 2014 state title game, Liverpool meets Section XI (Suffolk County, Long Island) champion Eastport-South Manor in Saturday’s state semifinal at 1:30. The winner of the game moves to the final at 5:30.
“We know what we have to do,” said Hansen. “There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but our team is capable of just about anything.”