For the second time in as many weeks, the West Genesee softball team sought a win against defending Section III Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse.
However, unlike the May 8 battle in Camillus, this game at the Gillette Road complex went 9-2 in the Northstars’ favor as two big rallies helped the hosts sink the Wildcats.
The score was still 0-0 when, in the bottom of the second innings, C-NS struck for four runs off WG pitcher Kayla Hoovler. Deanna Shackleton relieved Hoovler and settled things down for the next two frames.
Having closed the gap to 4-2 with, among other things, Katie Drogo’s solo home run, the Wildcats saw its chances dashed when the Northstars erupted again in the fifth, scoring five times. Brandi Feeney hit a home run as she and Brooke Nicolaos drove in two runs apiece, with Giana Wameling adding a double and three RBIs.
WG could regain some confidence if it beat Liverpool on Friday after two close defeats to the Warriors earlier this season. However, the third encounter proved the most lopsided of all as the Wildcats lost 9-0 to the Warriors.
All the damage was done in two innings, Liverpool scoring five times in the third with the key blows a pair of two-run singles from Jenna Wike and Gina Meyers. Four more runs came in the sixth.
Elsewhere in softball, Bishop Ludden, who had struggled so much this spring, had a bright moment last Monday as it claimed a thrilling 11-10, eight-inning victory over Cato-Meridian.
Four-run outbursts in the first and third innings had given the Gaelic Knights an 8-3 lead. But the Blue Devils caught up by the sixth and were up, 10-8, going into the bottom of the seventh.
Somehow, Ludden scored twice in that frame to tie it, 10-10, and won an inning later as Ally Royal finished with three RBIs. Ashley Kochanek drove in two runs as Jade Regner and Sarah Boyea both scored twice. Kaitlyn Kibling and Amelia Lamendola each had one RBI.
Two days later, Ludden again scored in double digits in a one-run game, but lost a wild 15-14 decision to Port Byron where it surrendered a massive lead.
Through 2 ½ innings, the Gaelic Knights led 13-1, with Kibling getting three hits and three RBIs as Alexia Chemotti drove in two runs.
But the Panthers ate away at that deficit inning by inning, getting with 13-8 by the fourth and 14-13 by the sixth before getting the tying and winning runs in the seventh, led by Ava Mills, who hit two home runs and finished with six RBIs.
Another exciting Ludden game on Thursday had a different outcome, with the Gaelic Knights defeating Weedsport 8-7.
Twice, Ludden came back, early from a 3-1 deficit, and then again after the Warriors went up 6-4 in the fifth. By scoring four runs in the top of the seventh, the Gaelic Knights moved ahead for good.
Kibling pitched and, clinging to a one-run lead, tossed a scoreless seventh inning to win it, this after getting two doubles, a triple and single at the plate. Regner added two hits and scored a run.
Ludden would reach the Section III Class D playoffs as the no. 18 seed, needing to beat no. 15 seed Sackets Harbor Monday to earn a shot at no. 2 seed LaFargeville.
Up in Class AA, West Genesee’s no. 4 seed meant that it would face no. 5 seed Syracuse in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, the winner likely to deal with top seed C-NS in the semifinals later in the week.
