Just as all of them do when such a feat is accomplished, members of the Cicero-North Syracuse softball team posed for pictures with the championship banner after it defeated Baldwinsville 7-3 in Monday night’s Section III Class AA title game at Carrier Park.
But that wasn’t enough.
Head coach Mary Beebe invited some of the Northstars’ biggest fans for more pictures. Then she brought in parents, grandparents, other relatives and friends for one more round of photos.
All of them enjoyed, as much as possible, C-NS’s accomplishment of a third consecutive sectional championship, earned against a B’ville side that was aiming for a first-ever title and fought hard all the way to the end – but never recovered from the devastating early blow the Northstars threw at them.
So much of this game was a direct response to the Bees beating C-NS 14-8 back on May 8, a game where B’ville got to Northstars pitcher Ariana Corasaniti for five first-inning runs and led 14-0 before hanging on late.
Here, Corasaniti weathered a top of the first where an error and single put two B’ville runners on base before Kayla Young lined out. Then C-NS had its turn at the plate.
Giana Wameling beat out a bunt single. Then, on a 3-2 pitch, Alayna Harbaugh tripled to the wall, scoring Wameling, and then trotted home on Brandi Feeney’s RBI single.
Brooke Nicolaos walked, and so did Ally Cifaratta to load the bases. Jordyn Maldonado watched Young throw a wild pitch to plate another run and, moments later, singled home Nicolaos and Cifaratta. It was 5-0 before B’ville had even recorded an out.
Young was pulled in favor of Taylor Tripodi, who kept C-NS from adding to that total the rest of the first inning and, for the rest of the night, would do a superb job, only surrendering single runs off wild pitches in the second and fourth innings.
Still, that early outburst made the ultimate difference, partially because Corasaniti, as she put it, was “as focused as I could be” in atoning for her struggles in her last outing against the Bees.
Twice, B’ville tried to put together sustained rallies. In the third inning, two walks, plus Kaycee Hawk’s single, loaded the bases, but though a wild pitch scored a run, Corasaniti prevented anything more.
Then, in the sixth, C-NS, up 7-1, had one more nervous moment. Two leadoff singles, plus one by Tripodi with two outs, created another bases-loaded situation, and Chloe Branshaw singled to bring two runs home.
Corasaniti recovered to strike out pinch-hitter Kyrah Wilbur to end that threat and then, in the seventh, retired Mattison Phinney, Madison Ascioti and Hawk in order, fanning Hawk to end it, her ninth strikeout of the night.
