Just one more run, were it secured at many different key moments early on a tense Saturday evening at the Town of Moreau Recreation Mark near Glens Falls, and the Cicero-North Syracuse softball team would add a sixth state championship to the five it already owned.
But that run never arrived.
Instead, in 11 innings, Corning, from Section IV, defeated the Northstars 4-3 in the state Class AA title game, an agonizing conclusion to a season where C-NS had pointed itself toward a state title and very nearly got there.
To say that the state final four festivities in Moreau were eventful underscored all that took place, and it affected the Northstars long before it was able to take the diamond.
Originally, the state AA semifinal against Victor (Section V) was set for 11:30 a.m. But the Class A semifinal that preceded it, Ballston Spa against Sayville, went 20 long innings, making the Northstars and Blue Devils wait for more than two hours.
By the time Ballston Spa finally won that game 2-1 and the warm-ups for C-NS and Victor were done, the first AA semifinal on another diamond was already over, Corning turning back East Meadow 3-1.
So the Northstars not only knew who was waiting for them, it also had to avenge a 5-2 defeat to Victor back on May 24, no easy task given that the Blue Devils were the defending state AA champions.
Perhaps the long wait affected both teams because, for four innings, neither side could get on the board. But in the bottom of the fifth, C-NS got to Victor pitcher Carrie Sidare for three decisive runs, Brandi Feeney’s triple the key blow in that rally.
Another run followed in the sixth, but Northstars pitcher Arianna Corasaniti didn’t need anything more. She threw a complete-game shutout, holding the Blue Devils to four hits in a 4-0 victory that helped C-NS earn a spot in the title game against Corning.
After just 45 minutes to rest and 45 minutes to warm up, the state final started, and the first batter Corasaniti faced, Atalyia Rijo, belted a home run to put the Hawks in front, but it didn’t last long.
Giana Wameling led off the bottom of the first with a single and raced home when Feeney tripled again. Ally Cifaratta’s single scored Feeney, and C-NS owned a 2-1 lead.
They stayed that way until the top of the fourth, when again Corning struck with power, this time with Ellie Daugherty going deep off Corasaniti. Another run followed off two Northstars errors.
Trailing 3-2, C-NS was quiet in the fourth and fifth innings, but in the bottom of the sixth Brooke Nicolaos tripled and raced home on Jordyn Maldonado’s sacrifice fly to tie it again, 3-3.
And it would remain even for a while, due to the clutch pitching of Corasaniti on one side, and Corning’s Laura Bennett on the other side.
In the seventh and eighth innings, C-NS put the winning run on base and couldn’t cash in. More frustrating was the bottom of the 10th, when Alayna Harbaugh beat out a bunt single and Feeney singled, putting two on with nobody out, but Nicolaos hit into a line-drive double play and the Hawks escaped.
Corning had close calls, too, stranding two runners in the eighth and having Rijo hit a long drive that got caught in the 10th, so the two sides were still 3-3 heading into the 11th.
Going first, the Hawks again put a runner in scoring position, this time Erin Austin, and eighth-grader Olivia Keegan delivered a single that brought Austin Home.
Now C-NS had to answer it, and got a single with one out, only to have Bennett, with a strikeouts and infield pop-up, to bring the Hawks its first-ever state title.
What made it all hurt more for the Northstars was the fact that a senior class that was part of three consecutive Section III titles – Corasaniti, Feeney, Cifaratta, Maldonado and Bella Kingsley – would graduate. Nicolaos and Wameling return in 2020, as does Alayna Harbaugh, Jenna Imbesi and Francesca LaRobardiere.
