Without much time to celebrate their respective Section III titles, softball teams from Jamesville-DeWitt and Christian Brothers Academy entered the state tournament, hoping victories in regional games could propel them to next weekend’s state final four in Glens Falls.
But neither the Red Rams nor Brothers would get there.
J-D, in Thursday’s Class A regional opener at Luther Forest Fields in Malta, J-D suffered a 2-1 defeat to Section II champion Averill Park.
AP was out to avenge last year’s defeat to the Rams in this same regional round, and didn’t get rattled when Shayna Myshrall’s RBI single in the first inning put J-D up 1-0. Instead, the Warriors brought in relief pitcher Kylie Gavitt, who blanked the Rams the rest of the way.
Amanda Sumida, after giving up a second-inning run, was also strong, the Rams left-hander keeping the game 1-1 until the sixth, when a throwing error allowed AP to bring home the eventual winning run.
For CBA, the challenge on Friday in its Class B regional final was trying to top state no. 1-ranked Susquehanna Valley (Section IV), who had lost to eventual state champion Solvay 1-0 in this same round in 2017.
And the Sabres proved too tough – or more specifically, pitcher Sophia Pappas proved too tough, shutting down the Brothers’ bats and getting a pair of timely power shots to help SV prevail 2-0.
Inning after inning, the potent CBA lineup tested Pappas, only to, more often than not, return to the dugout after taking three strikes. All told, Pappas fanned 16, her arm accounting for all but five of the outs.
Again, Maddy Tallman started, and in the bottom of the second the Sabres’ Olivia Parker delivered a solo home run. Boule took over in relief and, in the third, got tagged for a solo shot by Hannah Haskell.
Though Julia Boule shut out the Sabres from there, Pappas never allowed CBA to get going. The Brothers’ best chance came in the fourth, when Boule singled and went to third base on a passed ball and error, but got stranded.
