MARCELLUS – Great as it was to claim a league title with a perfect 12-0 mark, the Marcellus softball team knew that the only perfect ending would come if it won the Section III Class B championship for the first time in program history.
And under blue skies in front of a boisterous home crowd Saturday afternoon, the Mustangs climbed to that summit in the most satisfying way possible, knocking off defending champion Oneida 10-2 for the Class B title.
After all that gone on during the week – three elimination games with varying degrees of suspense – Marcellus was fully prepared to face an Indians side that made it all the way to the state Class B title game two years ago.
Unfazed when Oneida scored in the top of the first, the Mustangs tied it, 1-1, in the bottom of the second, and then took charge an inning later.
Aubrey Fraher singled and scored, as did Katie MacLachlan, with Hannah Durand’s two-run single the big blow as Marcellus gained a 4-1 edge.
It stayed that way until the sixth, when Oneida poked across a run – but Marcellus batted around and, with a six-run rally, all but sealed the game.
Everyone in the Mustangs’ lineup was part of that sixth-inning rally, with Durand (who went three-for-four), Fraher, Carly Hopper, Elaine Grattan, Katie MacLachlan and Emma MacLachlan all earning hits. Annabella Mondello also had an RBI.
Pitching her fourth game of the week, Fraher went the distance, surrendering six hits but amassing 12 strikeouts to help the Mustangs end its long wait for a championship.
In last Monday’s opening round, Fraher pitched another gem to oust no. 15 seed Central Valley Academy 6-0, limiting the Thunder to a single hit from Scout Ludwig while striking out nine and only walking one.
A run in the first inning was followed by two runs in the third inning and a three-run fourth as Sam Wynne earned a pair of RBIs. Grattan also drove in a run as Wynne and Fraher both scored twice.
Moving on to the sectional quarterfinals, Marcellus faced no. 7 seed Mount Markham, and after a 24-hour weather postponement, the clash of two sets of Mustangs would prove a classic that Marcellus was glad to pull out 1-0.
Fraher found herself in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel with Mount Markham’s Madison Clark, and Clark was superb, surrendering six hits but striking out eight and constantly thwarting possible Marcellus raliles.
For her part, Fraher gave up three hits and two walks while striking out six, and as the game went into extra innings she continued to dazzle, pitching a scoreless eighth.
Marcellus saw its patience at the plate rewarded in the bottom of the eighth when Hopper singled, reached second and raced home with the winning run on Grattan’s game-winning single.
Waiting in the sectional semifinals 24 hours later was Camden, the no. 3 seed, who had a day’s rest after it had knocked out Westhill in the quarterfinal round. Yet the Blue Devils could not stop the Mustangs from a mid-game surge at the plate that lead to a 10-3 victory.
The two sides traded single runs in the first and second innings. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, the Mustangs went out in front for good, striking for four runs and then scoring four more times in the fifth.
Grattan and Katie MacLchlan both drove in two runs, with Mondello adding a solo home run. Emma MacLachlan and Brooklyn Finnarty also had RBIs as Fraher scored three times while again pitching a complete game.
