Though no one can say at this point if the West Genesee softball team will find new heights this spring, it seemed to take a major step toward those ambitions in last Monday’s 6-5, eight-inning victory over Cicero-North Syracuse.
This game featured plenty of momentum shifts, with the Wildcats jumping out in front of the reigning Section III Class AA champions 4-0 through two innings, keyed by a three-run second.
Kayla Hoovler blanked C-NS until the fifth, when the visitors got a run and then scored four times in the top of the sixth to take a 5-4 lead, with Brooke Nicolaos getting a home run, double and four RBIs during that comeback.
Still, WG wasn’t done. It got to Northstars pitcher Lindsay Richards in the seventh to tie it, 4-4. Then, in the eighth, Mya Case reached base for the third time (two of them doubles), made it to third and raced home with the winning run when Richards uncorked a wild pitch.
Katie Drogo matched Case’s three-hit output, adding an RBI. Emily Winton, Abbey VanHorn and Maddy Lux also drove in runs as Deanna Shackleton pitched two scoreless innings of relief after Hoovler exited.
This full week for WG started when it went to C-NS’s“Strike Out Cancer” Tournament last Sunday afternoon, making up games that were rained out on April 28.
The Wildcats split those games, taking a 4-2 defeat to Victor, but defeating Cohoes 10-3. Against Victor, WG fell behind the Blue Devils 4-0, and couldn’t quite make up the ground despite a pair of sixth-inning runs driven in by Winton’s single.
Rebounding quickly, the Wildcats overcame a 2-1 deficit to Cohoes with runs in four straight innings, scoring twice in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead and then getting four runs in the fifth to pull away as Shackleton struck out eight and held the Tigers to six hits.
Case went four-for-five to anchor WG’s 15-hit attack, doubling twice as Lux’s pair of hits led to four RBIs. Teagan Dow had three hits, with Drogo, Pontello and VanHorn getting two hits apiece.
With the win over C-NS in its pocket, the Wildcats went for another one at Liverpool two days later, and almost got it, only to slip late in a 3-2 defeat to the Warriors.
They traded first-inning runs, Drogo driving home Pontello for WG, and then Liverpool inched in front 2-1 in the fifth before WG tied it again an inning later on VanHorn’s solo home run.
Yet the Wildcats could not pull in front and, in the bottom of the seventh, Ashley Teixeira’s single brought home the decisive run.v Still, it was a fine pitching effort by Shackleton, who gave up eight hits but never allowed Liverpool to put a big rally together.
Following these tough games, WG welcomed a bit of a breather on Thursday afternoon, traveling to Fayetteville-Manlius and putting together a 7-1 victory over the Hornets.
All of the Wildcats’ runs came in the fourth inning, Lux driving in two of them as RBIs also went to Drogo, Kaylee Shackleton and Deanna Shackleton. Kayla Hoovler pitched well, limiting F-M to four hits.
Jordan-Elbridge started its week with a 6-5 win at Cazenovia, Alexis Delfavero pitching a complete game as Mia Arms, Gabriella Bard and Elizabeth Baker got two hits apiece, Bard scoring a pair of runs. Ranait McGuire added a double and scored a run, too.
Then the Eagles made it back-to-back wins, blowing out Hannibal 16-0 as it scored six times in the second and seven times in the fourth.
Bard was a single short of the cycle, getting a home run, triple and double on her way to a career-best six RBIs. Arms contributed three hits as she drove in three runs, with Delfavero scoring four times as McGuire got two RBIs.
Bishop Ludden played last Monday against “Holy War” rival Christian Brothers Academy and took a 22-3 defeat to the Brothers. CBA led 8-0 through two innings before Kaitlyn Kibling hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third.
But that couldn’t keep the Brothers from adding to its margin, capped by a 10-run sixth inning. Amelia Lamendola drove in a run in the fifth. CBA had Maddy Tallman, Emily Hall and Victoria Hall get three RBIs apiece.
Then the skid almost ended Tuesday, but Ludden lost, 7-6, to Pulaski after building a 5-0 lead through two innings. It was still 6-3 when the Blue Devils scored twice in the sixth and twice in the seventh to pull it out.
Before it all got away, five different Gaelic Knights – Kibling, Ally Royal, Amelia Lamendola, Jade Regner and Jordan Kochanek – notched two hits apiece, with Royal and Kibling each scoring twice.
In Wednesday’s 14-5 loss to Port Byron, Ludden gave up runs in each of the first five innings. Regner and Olivia Boyea both had RBIs for the Gaelic Knights and Amarah Streiff scored twice as the Panthers’ Jenna Waite went five-for-five with three RBIs.
