As if the Baldwinsville softball team didn’t need more motivation for last Thursday’s visit from defending Section III Class AA champion Liverpool, it got some from a need to defend its new spot in the state Class AA rankings.
The Bees, with an 8-3 record, entered those state rankings at no. 24, and knew that, if it could avenge its 5-0 defeat to the state no. 6-ranked Warriors back on April 19, it could climb higher still.
And it nearly happened – but one pitch left in the strike zone made the difference in a 1-0 defeat that, while discouraging on the surface, may have also convinced B’ville that, if it met Liverpool again in the post-season, the result just might turn out different.
Having pitched well in that first meeting, B’ville ace Keeanna Wolcik topped herself here, proving the equal of Liverpool’s Peyton Bellrose for six innings. It stayed 0-0 as Wolcik amassed eight strikeouts and only allowed four hits, two of them to Erika Sadowski.
Meanwhile, Bellrose continued to baffle the Bees’ batters, who managed just three hits. Wolcik had one of them, and so did Madison Ascioti and Kaycee Hawks, but with 12 strikeouts and no walks allowed, Bellrose maintained her part of the 0-0 duel.
So the bottom of the seventh began with Wolcik facing Katie Yudin, whom she had retired in each of her previous two at-bats. But on the very first pitch, Yudin timed a fastball and belted it over the fence for a home run that, in an instant, ended the game.
B’ville didn’t ignore the games that led up to Liverpool, and was dominant in last Tuesday’s visit to Fayetteville-Manlius, earning one of its highest run totals of the season in a 14-0 shutout over the Maroons.
Then, after the battle with Liverpool, the Bees had to gear up for a tough game Saturday at Central Square, another top Class AA contender. But the Bees proved up to that challenge, pulling out a 2-1 decision over the Redhawks.
For a long while, B’ville’s first-inning run held up, but in the bottom of the sixth Central Square’s Courtney Horne singled and raced home to tie it, 1-1. It didn’t stay tied for long, though, as the Bees went back in front in the top of the seventh off Redhawks pitcher Abby House and saw Wolcik record the final three outs.
This was just a three-inning stint for Wolcik, who earned six strikeouts, the same total that Emma Bernet got during her four-inning shutout stint to start the game. The pitching pair also drove in one run apiece as Sarah Lalla went three-for-four, including a double.
At 10-4 following that win over Central Square, the Bees again met Cicero-North Syracuse Monday before hosting Auburn on Wednesday afternoon.
