Having surged at the end of April, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team had every intention of continuing that run, even after rain wiped out the Red Rams’ games early last week, including one against Rochester Mercy at the Gillette Road complex.
Indeed, the Red Rams’ strong play did continue, including last Friday afternoon’s game against Christian Brothers Academy, where despite the wet conditions J-D flourished and earned a 4-0 victory over the Brothers.
Julia Boule pitched for CBA and kept it 0-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Rams struck for three runs. A sixth-inning insurance run followed as Paige Sherling, with a double, single and three RBIs, led the attack. Hannah Gunther drove in the other run.
Meanwhile, J-D pitcher Shayna Myshrall kept the Brothers, only allowing four hits, all singles – one each to Boule, Tori Hall, Bridget O’Hern and Claire Pierret – and two walks, but striking out six for her complete-game shutout.
When things resumed last Tuesday, the Red Rams were ready for it, especially Amanda Sumida, who took her turn in the pitcher’s circle and blanked Oswego 10-0 in a game where she limited the Buccaneers to two hits and overcame five walks by recording nine strikeouts.
Steadily, J-D built a 4-0 lead through four innings and then broke out for six runs in the top of the fifth. Gunther and Sarina Alexander each doubled and drove in two runs, with Myshrall and Carly O’Hern both adding two hits and two RBIs. Julia Fairbanks added a double and RBI.
Unlike J-D, East Syracuse Minoa was coming off a last week of April where it had gone up and down, beating CBA, but also getting shut out by Oswego.
Not content with the latter, the Spartans rebounded last Tuesday by roaring past Fulton 12-4. A three-run first inning set the tone as ESM never trailed, answering the Red Raiders’ lone surge by amassing six runs in the fifth inning (just like J-D had done against Oswego) to get away.
Isabella Calcaginio supplied the big blow in that fifth inning with a three-run home run, her first of the season. She finished with five RBIs as Taylor Cassella got three hits and joined Courtney Burgun and Julia Jackson, driving in two runs apiece. Alissa Daly added an RBI and also pitched a complete game, overcoming nine hits and three walks to prevail.
ESM also broke out the bats in Wednesday’s 17-2, six-inning romp over Homer, accumulating 20 hits as it scored in every inning except the third and capped things off with seven runs in the top of the sixth.
Daly went five-for-five, including a triple, and had a season-best five RBIs, while Aubrey Williams went four-for-four and scored five runs. Aricia Williams had a single, triple and three RBIs as Burgun drove in a pair of runs. Shaina Brilbeck got three hits, joining Cassella, Jackson, Isabella Calcaginio and Sami Wysocki earning one RBI apiece.
Just as quickly, though, ESM went cold on Thursday in a 7-2 loss to Phoenix, shut out until the fifth inning, by which point the Firebirds led, 3-0, and would tack on three more runs in that frame. Aubrey Williams and Sam Short drove in the Spartans’ runs as Marisa Dona and Jada Jackowski led Phoenix with two hits apiece.
When CBA resumed on Wednesday, its bats went quiet in a 9-1 road loss to Cortland, the primary damage done when the Purple Tigers broke out for six runs in the bottom of the fourth.
For its part, the Brothers had just five hits off Cortland pitcher Cady Walts, with Abigail Benware doubling and scoring CBA’s lone run in the fifth inning. Jade Shively led Cortland with a triple and three RBIs.
CBA did hit plenty on Thursday, but gave up more in a 21-12 defeat to Fulton where things stayed close until the Red Raiders, up 6-4, broke it open with an 11-run eruption in the top of the fourth, something the Brothers could not overcome as it fell to 4-7 on the season before J-D beat them a day later.
