Before it could gear up for its move to Class A for the Section III playoffs, the Christian Brothers Academy softball team earned some regular-season honors.
The Brothers clinched first place in the OSHL Liberty National division last Wednesday when it knocked off unbeaten, state Class B no. 19-ranked Cazenovia 9-5 as second-place Solvay was taking a 2-1 defeat to Mexico.
Both teams came into this game short-handed. CBA did not have pitcher Maddy Tallman, replaced by Maya Geiss, while Cazenovia was without catcher Maddie Waite.
Still, the short-handed Lakers took an early lead 3-0 lead before CBA erased it with Geiss earning an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth and Emily Hall drilling a two-run home run an inning later.
That set up the bottom of the sixth, where a pair of infield hits set up Geiss for a go-ahead two-run single. Two more runs raced home on Victoria Hall’s flubbed grounder, and Grace DelPino delivered a two-run single of her own.
Battling to the end, Cazenovia notched two runs in the top of the seventh, but Geiss was able to record the final outs, having allowed nine hits overall while recording four strikeouts.
Fayetteville-Manlius returned to action Thursday, against Baldwinsville, and the Hornets led early, but could not hold on to that advantage as it took a 10-8 defeat to the Bees.
Each side produced plenty in the early going, but a six-run second inning had F-M in front 7-4 as Sophie Woodridge hit a home run and got four RBIs, while Patricia Boltman, Lily Fish, Paige Murphy and Annaliese OuYang also drove in runs.
The Hornets still led 7-5 when B’ville used a three-run sixth inning and two runs in the seventh to pull out the win, led by Kayla Young’s home run and three RBIs and helped by F-M committing three errors.
But F-M got even with B’ville in a wild 14-10 decision a day later, coming back from a 9-6 deficit with four runs in the sixth inning.
Then, after the Bees tied it 10-10 in the sixth, the Hornets settled down and kept it that way until the top of the ninth, when it struck for four more runs that B’ville could not answer.
Fish had a career-best performance at the plate, twice belting home runs and finishing with six RBIs. Woodridge and Gracie Bishop also went deep, combining to drive in five runs as Katrina Rivera got a pair of RBIs. Murphy pitched four innings of relief to earn the win.
Bishop Grimes lost, 17-2, to Weedsport last Thursday afternoon, only getting single runs in the third and sixth innings as Sarah Falgiatano had a double and RBI, with Tori Sikorski and Mary Kate Tweedale scoring the runs and Emma Maher earning two hits.
