Now firmly established as the Class AA program everyone in Section III is chasing, the Liverpool softball team has no intention of letting the pack catch them.
Though it took some graduation losses from its latest sectional title team of 2016, enough is back to still make the Warriors an odds-on favorite, even if it still hasn’t found a way to beat an opponent it can’t control.
Bad weather postponed a pair of season-opening home games against Oneida and Jamesville-DeWitt, but Liverpool did manage to play on Sunday at SUNY-Cortland against Clarke, from Long Island, and used big early run production to set the stage for an 8-3 victory.
Batting around in the bottom of the first inning, the Warriors scored five runs. Then it added two runs in the second to make it 7-0, more than enough as Liverpool eventually produced 14 hits.
Danielle Alberici went four-for-four at the plate, scoring twice. Gina Meyers had her own three-for-three outing, earning an RBI as Alicia Nash doubled, singled twice and drove in a run. Sophia Harris and Dana Egan also had RBis.
Only Jenna Wike drove in two runs, but she also handled all of the pitching duties, going the route as she held Clarke to five hits and kept them off the board, too, except for a three-run fourth inning. Wike struck out six and did not walk a batter.
If the weather held on Tuesday, Liverpool would clash with rival Cicero-North Syracuse and then face Baldwinsville on Wednesday before its spring-break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Northstars are also set to face Central Square this Thursday afternoon.
