When it has taken the field, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team has shown that it might be even better than the side that won the Section III Class A title a season ago.
The Red Rams got to double digits on the scoreboard for the second time in as many games during last Monday’s 12-1 win over Mexico, breaking things open with five runs in the second inning and four runs an inning later.
Shayna Myshrall had a home run, double and single, earning two RBis as Alexis LeClair scored three times and drove in three runs. Mary Austin and Taylor Roadarmel each had two hits and two RBIs as Amanda Sumida held the Tigers to three hits in a complete-game pitching effort, striking out five.
Those same two teams played again on Wednesday, and J-D nearly doubled the run total, bashing Mexico 20-2 by scoring at least once in all six innings, capped by a seven-run sixth that invoked the mercy rule.
Helped by the Tigers’ 12 errors, the Rams still got 18 hits as Makenzie Keeler homered, doubled, tripled and scored four times. LeClair’s three hits led to four RBIs as Myshrall, who pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and five hits allowed, tripled and drove in three runs. Sumida, Roadarmel and Austin had two hits apiece
East Syracuse Minoa earned its first win of the season by handling Westhill 11-3, the game essentially decided by the Spartans scoring four runs in both the second and fourth innings.
Sam Short kept the Warriors hitless until the fifth, when Leah Diefendorf’s bases-clearing triple broke up the shutout. Still, Short tossed a complete game, earning nine strikeouts and getting two RBIs at the plate as Julia Jackson doubled twice and drove in two runs. Courtney Burgun also had two RBIs, with Franchesca Polcaro doubling and joining Tori Malbone with one RBI apiece.
Then ESM rolled past Syracuse 14-5 on Wednesday afternoon and sought a third win in a row Thursday against Fulton at the Onondaga Community College complex. Early power at the plate from Burgun helped the Spartans build an early cushion and ultimately beat the Red Raiders 8-5.
Burgun smashed a home run and triple to help ESM streak to a 4-0 lead. Then it added four more runs in the sixth innings, enough to withstand Fulton’s late push.
On Saturday, ESM lost, 5-3, to Cortland, erasing an early 2-0 deficit with a pair of third-inning runs, but seeing the Purple Tigers go in front for good with three runs in the top of the sixth. Short still has three hits and two RBIs, with Polcaro also driving in a run as Aubrie Williams got two hits and scored twice.
Christian Brothers Academy took a tough 7-6 defeat to Pulaski, having erased a 4-2 deficit with four runs in the top of the fifth to take a 6-4 lead, only to see the Blue Devils get within one in the sixth and then net the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Emily Hall and Julia Griffith each had one RBI, each of them scoring runs as Julia Boule, Bridget O’Hern, Abigail Benware and Julia Sullivan also scored runs. Boule pitched and took the loss, though she got five strikeouts.
On Thursday afternoon, CBA broke into the win column, outscoring Chittenango 13-10. A 2-0 first-inning deficit quickly vanished when the Brothers scored four times in the bottom of the first, and six more runs followed in the next two innings.
Still, that 10-3 margin nearly got squandered as the Bears, with five runs in the fifth and two runs in the sixth, charged within one, 10-9. It took CBA scoring three more times in the bottom of the sixth to build its eventual winning margin.
Griffith finished with two hits and four RBIs, while Maria Oliva drove in two runs. Boule, Benware and Emily Hall had one RBI apiece as Oliva scored a team-best three runs.
