Each spring, the Liverpool softball team gets an opportunity to travel south and gain valuable game experience before the local season heats up.
In this year’s instance, going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to play in the Ripken Experience proved quite timely for the Warriors.
With the local fields nowhere near ready and the snow taking a long time to melt, Liverpool would see its first game action in Myrtle Beach, choosing to travel at the end of March rather than during the scheduled school break late in April.
There was no shortage of motivation for the Warriors, either. Last year’s defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse in the Section III Class AA final has stayed on the mind of the returning players for 10 months, and they couldn’t wait to get started again.
Only in the first game at Myrtle Beach on March 29 did Liverpool struggle, taking a 2-0 defeat to Olentagy (Ohio). The Warriors managed just one hit, a single by Jenna Wike, who also pitched and limited the Braves to six hits, striking out three.
A day later, Liverpool broke into the win column in a big way, taking out West Greene (Pennsylvania) 9-1 thanks to a 13-hit attack that supported Wike’s five-hit complete-game pitching effort.
Sophia Harris went three-for-three, scoring twice. Alicia Nash and Gianna LaValle also had three-hit outings. Nash tripled and scored twice and Wike got a pair of RBIs. Ashley Teixeira, Gina Meyers, Olivia Hayden and Lourdes Soto also drove in runs.
Against LaSalle Peru (Illinois) on March 31, the Warriors improved to 2-1 on the trip, prevailing 6-1. It proved another showcase for Nash, who singled, tripled and drove in three of Liverpool’s runs.
Each of Liverpool’s batters got at least one hit, with two hits credited to Nash, Teixeira, Meyers, Wike and Delanie Alberici. Meyers, Teixeira and Alberici had one RBI apiece as Wike, pitching for the third straight day, limited LaSalle to three hits and struck out eight.
Following an Easter Sunday scrimmage against Marcellus, another local side making the trip to Myrtle Beach, the Warriors got its third straight win on Monday, topping Russell (Kentucky) 8-5.
More than half of Liverpool’s 13 hits came from LaValle, who went four-for-four, and Alberici, who got three hits. Combined, they scored four runs as Nash and Teixeira both had two RBIs. Wike pitched another complete game and also drove in a run.
