Maybe the no-hitter West Genesee baseball pitcher Colin BeVard threw against CBA on May 5 at NBT Bank Stadium did have long-term ramifications.
At least in the short term, it sure seemed to bolster the Wildcats, who went on to rout Auburn 12-3 a day later and then, in the opener of its three-game series against Baldwinsville last Tuesday afternoon, pulled off another shutout, blasting the Bees 10-0.
Though B’ville had just come off winning two of three from Liverpool (a team who swept WG in their April 25-28 series), it had no answer against Wildcats pitcher Kyle Korzeniewski, who gave up four hits, three walks and two hit batsmen, but kept the Bees off the board.
Meanwhile, WG, up 1-0, began to pull away with five total runs in the third and fourth innings before a four-run sixth locked it up. Matt Kot, in particular, hurt B’ville as his triple and single led to four RBIs. Brian VanBeveren had two hits and drove in two runs, while Dan Purcell added an RBI and Nick Graham scored twice.
A day later, everything changed as WG lost, 6-5, to B’ville, who twice rallied after the Wildcats had gone out in front to try and salvage Bevard’s first start since his no-hitter against CBA.
An early 3-0 Bees lead vanished when WG got to Cody Kaestle for two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to get a 4-3 lead. After B’ville pulled even, 4-4, it went to the seventh inning, when the Wildcats produced a run off reliever Jarrod Williams.
But even that 5-4 edge didn’t last, as B’ville got to Kevin Donahue (who had relieved BeVard in the fifth) with the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Frazee drove in two of WG’s runs, with VanBeveren, Marshall Winn and Chris Peer getting one RBI apiece.
Now they would settle the series on Thursday afternoon, and the third game matched the one before – except here WG prevailed, making a stirring late-game comeback and this time making it stick in a 6-4 win over B’ville.
Here it was the Wildcats getting the first run and then surrendering the lead, with the Bees scoring twice in the third and again in the fifth. An exchange of runs followed until WG, down 4-2, broke through with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
VanBeveren, with a triple, single and three RBIs, led the push, while BeVards and Matt Frazee each drove in one run. The other saving grace for the Wildcats was its relief pitching as Billy O’Brien and Liam Barry logged 2 1/3 solid innings following Winn’s departure in the fifth.
Following a nice stretch in the opening week of May, the West Genesee softball team crashed down a bit during last Monday’s 18-1 defeat to state Class AA no. 4-ranked Liverpool, a team it only lost to by a 5-1 margin back on April 21.
The Wildcats poked across a run in the bottom of the first inning off Warriors ace Peyton Bellrose as Amanda Prell’s double drove home Mya Case, but Liverpool answered with five runs in the third inning and five more runs two innings later, plus an eight-run seventh.
WG’s pitching tandem of Shannon Churchill and Deanna Shackleton surrendered 21 hits between them, including a home run by Bellrose. But it was Joelle Nesci and Erika Sadowski leading the Warriors’ charge, each of them earning four hits as Nesci picked up five RBIs. Prell had two of the Wildcats’ four hits.
Back home on Wednesday, the Wildcats honored its four seniors – Churchill, Prell, Mallory Kovacs and Sierra Smith – prior to a doubleheader against Fayetteville-Manlius – and proceeded to sweep the Hornets.
The opener went 10-2 in WG’s favor, with Katie Drogo offering the best tribute to her senior teammates as she got two doubles and three RBIs. Case drove in two runs as Prell and Elle Lazore each scored twice and Shackleton blanked the Hornets until the fifth and final inning.
In the second game, the Wildcats won 8-3 in large part because it scored three runs in the second and third innings to support Shackleton, who pitched all 10 innings of the twin bill.
Here, the seniors really stood out as Churchill went three-for-three with three runs scored and three RBIs, while Smith added a triple and single and also drove in three runs. Case added two RBIs as Lazore and Grace Schnorr both scored a pair of runs.
All of this improved WG’s record to 10-7 as it would meet state Class A no. 24-ranked Jamesville-DeWitt during the last week of the regular season.
