Since so much of their respective April schedules got chewed up by bad weather, the Cazenovia and Chittenango softball teams would make up ground during a furious transition from April to May.
For example, last Tuesday the Lakers played a doubleheader against two different teams, earning a split as, in the first five-inning game, Cazenovia defeated Bishop Grimes 10-5.
Samantha Morgan pitched the entire game against the Cobras, earning five strikeouts. At the plate, Mackenzie Waite led Cazenovia with three hits, while Hannah Matteson smacked a home run and scored twice. Delaney Yorks and Autumn Paddock had two hits apiece.
The second game proved far different as Cazenovia lost, 15-3, to Westhill, who broke it open with five runs in the third inning and six runs in the fourth. Morgan and Matteson both doubled and drove in runs for the Lakers, who had just four hits overall.
In Wednesday’s game against Homer, Cazenovia took a 3-1 defeat, not getting on the board until the seventh inning despite getting seven hits to the Trojans’ six.
Matteson and Elora Wilmot each had two hits, with Wilmot’s double in the top of the seventh scoring Alexis Sherwood as she also pitched a complete game, striking out seven. Homer ace Nicole Hotchkiss had 11 strikeouts as she also got a single, triple and RBI.
While that went on, Chittenango broke out in a big way at home against Hannibal, bashing those Warriors 17-1 in a six-inning mercy-rule decision.
Scoring in every inning except the fourth, the Bears peaked with six runs in the third and five runs in the fifth and unleashed its power with four home runs in its 16-hit attack.
Cassidy Kelly had two of those round-trippers, with Jada Masiclat and Shayla Muncy also going deep. Masiclat and Sydney Pellman drove in four runs apiece as Kelly got three RBIs, joining Jenna Osborne and Erika Solberg in scoring three runs. Natalie Cowburn had two RBIs, with Solberg (who had three hits) and Avery Salce both driving in one run. \
Yet that was just a prelude to Saturday’s onslaught against Mexico, where everyone got to hit for the Bears in a 30-10 victory over the Tigers.
The Chittenango deluge included a seven-run sixth inning and 15-run sixth inning. Among the 30 hits were five each by Pellman and Cowburn, who combined for nine RBIs as Soiberg and Savannah Penoyer each drove in four runs. Kelly and Muncy both finished with three hits and three RBIs.
Back on Friday, Cazenovia met defending state Class B champion Solvay and lost, 3-0, in a game shortened to five innings by rain. All of the Bearcats’ runs came in the fourth inning, the key blow Hannah Martineau’s two-run double off Morgan, who had one of the Lakers’ three hits, the other going to Yorks and Lydia LaGorga.
