It only figured that, if the Jamesville-DeWitt softball wanted to return to yet another Section III Class A championship game, it would need to go through its neighbors from East Syracuse Minoa.
These two rivals would clash last Friday in the sectional semifinal at Carrier Park, where once again Shayna Myshrall did damage in all sorts of way to help the top-seeded Red Rams eliminated the no. 5 seed Spartans 3-0.
All through the early innings, Myshrall got solid defense behind her as she held ESM to one hit. Meanwhile, Spartans counterpart Shaina Brilbeck stranded two Rams in the first inning and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third by striking out Kate Dorazio.
It remained 0-0 until the bottom of the fifth, when with one out Andrea Sumida got an infield hit and Paige Keeler singled, her third hit off Brilbeck. Then Myshrall stepped to the plate.
Having still not hit the ball hard in this game, Myshrall, on a 3-2 pitch, drilled a low shot to the wall in right field, ending up as a triple as Sumida and Keeler raced home. A third run was scored on Dorazio’s sacrifice fly.
Though Myshrall would allow three hits and not have overpowering stuff in the pitcher’s circle, she still kept ESM off the board and sent J-D into Monday’s sectional final against Whitesboro.
Both sides had won a day earlier in the quarterfinals with lopsided shutouts as J-D bashed Central Square 10-0 and ESM scored even more runs in putting away no. 4 seed Carthage 13-0.
Despite the long road trip, the Spartans’ bats immediately went to work against Carthage, delivering four first-inning runs. Four more runs followed over the next three innings, with a five-run fifth capping the effort.
Three times, Natalie Quonce doubled, part of a 14-hit attack where Shaina Brilbeck, Holly Carr and Bella Pickard had two RBIs apiece. Brilbeck scored three runs as Franchesca Polcaro, Gillianne McCarthy and MacKenzie Rivers each drove in single runs.
In addition to her fine day at the plate, Brilbeck blanked Carthage, holding the Comets to five hits and three walks while amassing 13 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, J-D took time to warm up its bats against Central Square, getting a run in the first and two runs in the third before putting things away with a six-run rally in the bottom of the fifth and another run an inning later.
Marshall, not content with limiting the Redhawks to four hits in her complete-game shutout, homered and doubled at the plate on the way to five RBIs. Paige Keeler got three hits, with Andrea Sumida, Kate Dorazio, Avery Young and Sydney Linkiewicz each getting two hits.
Last year’s Class B sectional champions, Christian Brothers Academy, held the no. 2 seed in Class A this time around, but were knocked off at home by no. 7 seed Fulton 12-3 in its sectional quarterfinal.
Even with Julia DelPino scoring twice in the first two innings, the Brothers trailed 4-3, and the Red Raiders used four-run rallies in the fourth and seventh innings to get away as Madison Gilmore homered twice and got three RBIs.
Up in Class AA, Fayetteville-Manlius culminated its turnaround season by going to Rome Free Academy and winning a tense 7-6 opening-round game over the Black Knights.
Three different times, the Hornets rallied, from a 1-0 deficit with two runs in the third and from a 3-2 deficit with a run in the fourth before a sixth inning where, now trailing 5-3, it crossed the plate four times.
Lily Fish and Sophie Woodridge each notched four hits, Woodridge doubling twice as Fish added a triple and RBI. Gracie Bishop’s double drove in two runs as Morgan Napier got three hits and Emily Gryczka earned an RBI.
Paige Murphy pitched and, though RFA cut the Hornets’ 7-5 lead in half in the bottom of the seventh, she was able to get the final outs.
Now the Hornets would try to knock off top seed and defending champion Cicero-North Syracuse in Saturday’s sectional AA semifinal at Carrier Park, this after losing twice to the Northstars in the regular season.
But once again C-NS proved too tough, prevailing 15-0 in five innings. F-M pitcher Paige Murphy kept things quiet early, but in the bottom of the third the Northstars, up 1-0, tagged her for five runs, then added seven runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to end it.