Going into the week of the school break with a 1-5 record, the Chittenango softball team knew it had to quickly turn things around if it wanted any reasonable post-season shot.
The Bears did just fine for most of last Monday’s game against visiting Central Square, but only after a brutal first inning that made the ultimate difference in a 16-7 defeat to the Redhawks.
Central Square, who came into the game with a 4-1 record, jumped all over Chittenango pitcher Alexa Rossi in the top of the first and didn’t let up until it had nearly gone through the order twice and 11 runs were on the board.
Thanks to a four-run third inning, the Bears started to recover a bit, as Morgan Shoemaker doubled and earned three RBIs, with Alexa Rossi and Trisha Whaley each finishing with three hits and driving in two runs apiece.
Other than Shoemaker, Rossi and Whaley, the rest of the Chittenango lineup had just three hits. Chelsie Thomas (four RBIs), Abby House and Hannah Croteau (three RBIs apiece) led the Redhawks as House doubled twice and also pitched a complete game.
Two days later, at Cortland, the Bears faced another foe with just one defeat on its ledger – but put together, by far, it best all-around effort of the spring as, led by Shoemaker’s late hitting heroics, Chittenango pasted the Purple Tigers 11-1.
They were still 0-0 when Cortland netted its lone run in the bottom of the fourth, but that was all Rossi would allow in a three-hit complete game, her efforts rewarded when the Bears got to Purple Tigers pitcher Cady Walts for a run in the fifth before erupting for five runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Amid the barrage, Shoemaker banged out a home run, triple and double, scored three times and finished with five RBIs. Help came from Whaley, who drove in three runs as Rossi and Shalya Muncy both had an RBI and two runs scored.
