In a short amount of time, the gap between the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa softball teams has decreased to a point where the Red Rams have to worry about the Spartans should they meet in the post-season.
The two neighbors went head-to-head again last Monday afternoon, and despite accumulating 10 hits to the Spartans’ five, the Red Rams had to escape late to prevail 2-1.
That it was close wasn’t a total surprise, though. J-D only prevailed 6-4 when they met at Lyndon April 21, and less than a month later, ESM, on its home field, nearly got even.
For three innings, the Rams’ Amanda Sumida and the Spartans’ Shaina Brilbeck traded scoreless frames. Then, in the fourth, J-D inched in front 1-0, only to have ESM tie it with Franchesca Polcaro’s double and Brilbeck’s RBI single.
In the top of the fifth, the Rams regained the lead, and Sumida blanked the Spartans over the last three innings, limiting them to five hits overall while striking out nine. Polcaro had two of those hits.
Mary Austin went three-for-three to pace J-D as Shayna Myshrall earned an RBI and Sarina Alexander scored a run.
Despite all of Tuesday’s rain, ESM did play against Auburn, moving the game to nearby Carrier Park and able to rally from a five-run deficit to earn a 9-7 victory over the Maroons.
Auburn was in front 6-1 by the second inning, but ESM chipped away with two-run rallies in the third and fifth. Then, after the Maroons scored once in the top of the sixth, the Spartans, still down 7-5, jumped out in front with a decisive four-run rally.
Natalie Quonce led the comeback, producing four RBIs as Sam Short doubled, singled and drove in three runs. Aubrie Williams banged out three hits and scored four runs as Polcaro scored twice and Brilbeck had an RBI.
Back in action on Wednesday, J-D faced Baldwinsville, and built up enough of a cushion to withstand the Bees’ late comeback attempt, prevailing by a 6-4 margin.
Led by Katie White, who had three hits and three runs scored, and Sara Gow, who had two hits and an RBI on Senior Day, J-D built a 6-1 lead through five innings, and may have got more had B’ville pitcher Kayla Young not escaped all kinds of trouble with her 13 strikeouts.
Amanda Sumida pitched for the Rams and had her biggest escape in the fifth, when Kaycee Hawk’s bases-loaded line drive turned into a double play. Sumida tossed all seven innings, doing enough to thwart the Bees’ late comeback that included a Young home run.
Meanwhile, ESM took another 2-1 defeat, this one to Camden, but made quite a rebound on Thursday as it took on Syracuse and produced a 10-3 victory to get back to the .500 mark at 8-8 overall.
Then, on Friday, J-D slipped, taking a 5-3 defeat to Auburn, with the Maroons scoring all of its runs in the first inning, the key blows back-to-back two-run hits – a single by Marley Plish, a triple by Abbie Marinelli.
Still trailing 5-0, the Rams hit for three runs in the fourth, scored by Myshrall, White and Austin, but Auburn pitcher Kathryn Foster blanked them the rest of the way despite allowing nine hits, two each by Austin and Gow.
This happened just as ESM was prevailing 6-0 at New Hartford, with Brilbeck giving up just two hits and striking out eight in a dominant pitching performance.
A four-run outburst in the fourth inning, sandwiched in between single runs in the first and sixth innings, helped ESM take this Spartans clash. Brilbeck doubled in two of those runs as Gillianne McCarthy also got two RBIs, with Williams scoring three runs off her pair of hits and Mackenzie Rivers adding an RBI.
Just five teams chose to enter the Section III Class A playoff bracket. As the top seed, J-D would face no. 4 seed Oswego or no. 5 seed Watertown in one semifinal, with the other pitting no. 3 seed ESM against no. 2 seed Whitesboro.
