Not until the middle of May did the Cazenovia softball team finally take a defeat.
The Lakers’ 10-game win streak halted last Wednesday afternoon at Christian Brothers Academy, where it could not protect a three-run advantage and lost, 9-5, to the Brothers.
Both teams were short-handed, Cazenovia, no. 19 in last week’s state Class B rankings, was without its sophomore catcher, Maddie Waite, while CBA did not have pitcher Maddy Tallman, replaced by Maya Geiss.
The Lakers still took a 3-0 lead, scoring twice in the second inning thanks to Autumn Paddock’s triple and adding a run in the top of the fourth. But CBA pulled even with a run in the bottom of the fourth and Emily Hall’s two-run home run in the fifth.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the Brothers broke out for six runs off Samantha Morgan, two coming home on Geiss’s single and two more on Grace DelPino single.
Battling to the end, Cazenovia notched two runs in the top of the seventh, but Geiss was able to record the final outs and halt a run of Lakers victories that dated back to early April.
Now Cazenovia had to show it could respond to a defeat – and it did, quite well, with back-to-back wins on the weekend.
First, the Lakers edged Onondaga 7-5 on Friday at Onondaga Community College, which was a fund-raiser for the “More Than A Game” Foundation that benefits Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.
The Lakers trailed 3-2 before going in front for good with three runs in the top of the fifth, adding what proved to be two decisive runs an inning later.
Morgan went four-for-four, including two triples, and drove in four runs. Mackenzie Waite hit a solo home run and scored twice, with Paddock adding a pair of RBIs as Elora Wilmot pitched six innings to earn the win.
A day later, Cazenovia blanked Skaneateles 11-0, using four runs in the first inning to take charge and adding seven more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pull further away.
Morgan struck out 12 and held Skaneateles to three hits. Mostly, Cazenovia took advantage of 10 errors from that other group of Lakers as Hannah Matteson doubled twice, with Paddock, Fenton and Waite each driving in two runs.
Chittenango was back on the field Thursday afternoon, hosting Jordan-Elbridge and unable to get on the board in a 5-0 defeat to the Eagles.
J-E pitcher Alexis Delfavero held the Bears to four hits, doubles by Savannah Penoyer and Abbie Austin, singles by Sydney Pellman and Cassidy Kelly. The Eagles scored in four different innings off Sarah Lanphear, a two-run first setting the tone as Delfavero got three hits and Sydney Bard had two RBIs.
On Friday, Chittenango lost, 3-2, to Homer, the Bears seeing Madison Wagner and Ally Callahan score runs and Penoyer get an RBI for a 2-1 advantage through three innings, only to have the Trojans score twice in the bottom of the sixth off Kelly, who had struck out nine.
This skid ended on Saturday as Chittenango topped Phoenix 5-2, improving its overall record to 4-11.
After scoring twice in the first inning, the Bears saw the Firebirds tie it, 2-2, but in the top of the fifth Chittenango scored three times as Kelly smashed a home run and got three RBIs. Erika Soiberg and Avery Salce also drove in runs as Soiberg and Lanphear split up the pitching duties, combining for 11 strikeouts.
