All that Katie Yudin wanted to do was get on base and start a decisive rally. But she did a whole lot more.
Yudin’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Liverpool softball team its most dramatic victory of the season, a 1-0 decision over the Baldwinsville Bees that might serve as a preview of a post-season showdown later this month.
These same teams had met on April 19, and Liverpool had won 5-0, but it knew that B’ville ace Keeanna Wolcik was a tough opponent in the pitcher’s circle. So it didn’t surprise anyone that the second encounter with the Bees turned into a tense duel between Wolcik and Peyton Bellrose.
For six innings, Wolcik prove the equal of Bellrose, It stayed 0-0 as Wolcik amassed eight strikeouts and only allowed four hits, two of them to Erika Sadowski, the other two to Bellrose and Dana Egan, all of them singles.
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 Hawk, but with 12 strikeouts and no walks allowed, Bellrose maintained her part of the 0-0 duel, and did so again in the top of the seventh.
So the bottom of the seventh began with Wolcik facing 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 left-field fence for a home run that, in an instant, ended the game.
Though it took its first blemish of the spring with a 3-0 defeat to Shenendehowa on the last day of April, Liverpool still occupied the no. 6 spot in the latest state Class A rankings.
Prior to the B’ville drama, Liverpool met an Auburn side it blanked 12-0 at home on April 14. Here, it was a bit less lopsided, but the Warriors still used a trio of rallies to get to double digits and beat the Maroons 10-1.
Liverpool got to Auburn pitcher Taylor Stearns for two runs in the first inning and notched four runs an inning later, adding another four-run push in the top of the sixth as Bellrose doubled and drove in three runs, with Egan, Gina Meyers and Joelle Nesci getting two RBIs apiece.
Bellrose maintained her shutout until Auburn’s Chloe Calhoun connected for a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. All told, Bellrose allowed five hits in six innings, striking out six before Jenna Wike worked the ninth inning in relief.
While that took place, Cicero-North Syracuse stumbled again, this time at West Genesee, where a wild sixth inning proved decisive in a 7-4 loss to the Wildcats.
Having lost, 9-8, to WG at Gillette on April 14, the Northstars saw an early 2-0 lead vanish when the Wildcats notched single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Then, in the top of the sixth, C-NS went back in front, 4-2, only to surrender that edge when the hosts struck for five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Sam Shalcross, with two hits and an RBI, paced the C-NS lineup. WG’s Katie Drogo hit a home run and finished with three RBIs as Emily Winton added three hits and Amanda Prell picked up a pair of RBIs.
C-NS again showed its ability to recover on Wednesday when it beat Utica Proctor 7-4. It was scoreless until the fourth inning, when both teams plated three runs, but the Northstars went on to score twice in the fifth and sixth innings to move ahead for good.
Victoria Dunn pounded out a triple and finished with three RBIs. Shalcross drove in two runs as Brandi Feeney and Janelle Walters had one RBI apiece and Walters scored twice. Sisters Gabrielle and Ariana Corasaniti split the pitching duties, with Ariana not allowing a hit in her 3 1/3 inning stint.
The Northstars also won on Friday, getting past Fayetteville-Manlius 10-4, though it only improved C-NS’s record to 9-7 as it would have to travel to Liverpool on Thursday after tough games against B’ville and Oneida earlier in the week.
