Fresh off its run of six wins in as many days, the Skaneateles baseball team wanted to maintain that momentum through a quieter stretch that preceded its appearance in the Section III Class B playoffs.
Three days of rest (one of them caused the by the rainout of last Tuesday’s game with Homer) preceded the Lakers’ home game against Chittenango last Wednesday.
Refreshed, Skaneateles took out the Bears 13-2 in five innings, putting up runs in every inning except the second as it scored three times in the first inning to go in front for good and Kenny Peterson struck out six in four innings on the mound.
On the way to 13 hits, the Lakers had Cregg Scherrer score four times and Michael Murphy three times as Murphy also got three RBIs. Luke Viggiano and Tommy Reed had two RBIs apiece as Peterson and Jacob Nesbitt also drove in runs.
That was the only game Skaneateles would play during the week. Then, on Sunday, it found out it had the no. 3 seed for the sectional playoffs, more valuable than normal because the field in the open tournament included 26 teams.
Thus, only the top six seeds avoided playing an opening-round game on Monday, with Skaneateles awaiting no. 14 seed Solvay or no. 19 seed Utica-Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, the Skaneateles softball team was assured of a sectional playoff appearance if it wanted that opportunity, due to the open-tournament format where teams could qualify regardless of its records.
The Lakers played last Wednesday and lost, 12-6, to Chittenango, getting three RBIs from Lexi Cottrill and three hits from Cassidy Pitman as she also had an RBI. Shayla Muncy led the Bears with three doubles and four RBIs.
Right after that, though, Skaneateles had a moment of bliss as it defeated the Hannibal Warriors by a score of 7-3.
Down 2-0 early, the Lakers went in front with three runs in the bottom of the second and added two runs an inning later. That was enough for Kyra Cottrill, who struck out nine Hannibal batters and held them to two hits.
Tacking on single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, the Lakers featured the Cottrill sisters as Kyra and Lexi both had two hits and two RBIs. Cassidy Pitman and Erin Guthrie also had two hits as Sarah Blowers scored three runs and Zoe Francimone scored a run, too.
With that win as a spark, Skaneateles looked for another as the no. 22 seed in the Class B sectional tournament, facing no. 11 seed Camden for a spot in the next round against no. 6 seed Holland Patent.
