Whether on the baseball or softball diamonds, teams at Fayetteville-Manlius had difficult assignments once they returned from the school break.
For the baseball Hornets, it meant a three-game series against undefeated Liverpool, who like F-M had spent a week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Sweeping all of its games there, the Warriors came back home and promptly beat the Hornets 14-3 in last Monday’s opener, but this game was close most of the way and, in fact, was tied, 2-2, before Liverpool erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Colin Sommers pitched well until the fifth, but he, along with Chris Maloney and Eliot Baker, all took turns getting lit up, especially by the duo of Jonah Harder and Jake Evans, who each doubled twice and combined for seven RBIs.
Jack Grifo, in defeat, did hit a solo home run on the Hornets’ behalf. Kyle Walters produced a pair of hits as he and Gary Smith had one RBI apiece.
Back home for the second game of the series, F-M got a lost closer to Liverpool, yet still lost a wild 11-9 battle where it scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to go in front 5-1, only to have the Warriors tie it an inning later and then add three runs in the fourth.
The deficit grew to 10-5 by the bottom of the sixth, but F-M got a run in that frame and three more runs in the seventh to make it tight again. Grifo drove in three runs and John Egnaczyk had two RBIs as Smith, Kyle Walters and Isaac Blanford had two hits apiece. Walters and Mitch Seabury drove in single runs.
Looking to avoid a sweep on Thursday, F-M took one more shot at Liverpool, and unlike the previous game, it was a low-scoring affair, but again the Warriors got the best of it, edging the Hornets 2-1.
For the most part, Chris Maloney pitched well in his 4 1/3 inning stint, giving up just single runs in the third and fifth innings before Walters took over in relief. Yet all the Hornets could get was a single run in the sixth, scored by Walters, off Nick Antonello, who went six innings before Jonah Harder got the save.
In between these games, F-M made up the rainout of a first-week series against Baldwinsville on Wednesday, falling 7-2 to the Bees, who scored five runs in the first two innings to seize control.
Sommers, Grifo and Egnaczyk produced two hits apiece, yet that didn’t prove enough as B’ville turned its eight hits into runs off pitchers Blanford and Aiden Jordan. Frankie Levanti went three-for-three for the Bees, scoring twice as Zach Bush got a pair of RBIs.
And on Saturday, F-M faced Oswego as part of the “Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease” Classic at NBT Bank Stadium, where the skid ended with an 11-4 victory over the Buccaneers, all of the runs coming in the second through fifth innings, with the Hornets pulling away thanks to a five-run fourth.
Leading the 13-hit attack, Sommers, who also pitched six innings and struck out seven against four hits allowed, got three hits, while Seabury’s pair of hits led to three RBIs. Elliot Baker drove in two runs as Steve Laurie, with two hits, joined Egnaczyk, Sommers and Tyler Powell in getting single RBIs.
In softball, F-M started its week at Central Square, where it fell to the Redhawks 9-0, unable to get on the board despite getting six hits off pitcher Abby House, who finished the game with 10 strikeouts.
Lily Fish and Emily Gryczka each got two hits, with Sara Arthur and Alex Monasefsky getting one hit apiece. F-M pitcher Sarah Vaccaro avoided trouble most of the way, but Central Square broke it open with an eight-run third inning as Mikayla Casale homered for the Redhawks, joining Courtney Horne and Brooke Catlin as they each got two RBIs.
Up against undefeated, state Class AA no. 3-ranked Liverpool on Thursday, the Hornets lost, 12-2, but it was much closer than that for a while. In fact, the Hornets tied it, 2-2, with single runs in the second and third innings as Gryczka doubled and drove in a run, with Fish getting two hits and a run scored.
However, Liverpool took the lead for good with a two-run fifth inning and added eight more runs in the next two frames, as winning pitcher Jenna Wike got three hits, walked twice, scored three runs and got two RBIs. Dana Egan and Ashley Teixeira gained three RBIs apiece.
Then, F-M went to Oswego for the “More Than A Game” tournament to benefit Upstate-Golisano Children’s Hospital, and won both of its games there, starting with a 10-2 win over host Oswego where the Hornets built a 9-0 lead in the first three innings.
Isabella Bastian earned four of the Hornets’ 15 hits, including a double, scored three times and got a pair of RBIs. Gryczka, Vaccaro and Caroline Muller drove in two runs apiece as Fish tripled, singled twice and scored three runs. Vaccaro allowed seven hits and struck out four in her complete-game pitching effort.
F-M got even more runs in a 17-4 blowout of Fulton, scoring four times in the second and fourth innings and reaching double digits even before a six-run seventh inning capped a 23-hit effort.
Bastian and Fish both finished with five hits, a career mark, with Bastian tripling and driving in four runs. Vaccaro had three hits and three RBIs, with Muller and Gryczka driving in two runs apiece. Muller got four hits, with Madelyn Goskoski also contributing three hits.
