CENTRAL NEW YORK – Feeling quite good after a season-opening win over Webster Thomas on April 9, the Liverpool softball team turned its attention to other non-league games during the April school break.
It began last Monday, at Maine-Endwell, where the Warriors were pushed to nine innings, but were able to persevere and defeat the Spartans 4-1.
M-E got on the board in the first inning, but from there Cassie Wiggins would toss a shutout, striking out 11 and holding the Spartans to six hits overall.
The Warriors tied it in the fifth, then broke the 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the ninth. Tristen LaForte was the lone Liverpool batter to earn a pair of hits as she and Wiggins both got an RBI.
Three games would follow on the turf at Carrier Park, starting with Rome Free Academy on Tuesday as Liverpool made it three wins in as many games, claiming a 9-3 decision over the Black Knights.
A four-run first inning quickly erased a 1-0 deficit and two runs in the second followed, the Warriors ultimately picking up 10 hits.
Mackenzie Frani pitched 4 2/3 innings, striking out six and holding RFA to two hits. She also delivered a single and two RBIs as LaForte and Lily Stevens also drove in two runs. Julia Wike and Lauren Ragonese each had two hits and scored twice, with Wiggins pitching 2 1/3 no-hit innings in relief of Frani.
And this led to Thursday’s game against Jamesville-DeWitt, reuniting Liverpool head coach Phil DeAugustine with the team he coached to a series of league and Section III titles.
Here, the Red Rams got the best of it, rallying to stun the Warriors 10-8 after Liverpool built a 5-0 lead through five innings.
J-D got back in it with four runs in the sixth and, after the Warriors made it 8-4, batting around against Wiggins and Frani in a six-run seventh to go in front.
Prior to that, Ragonese had led Liverpool at the plate with a triple and four RBIs. LaForte doubled, singled twice and drove in two runs as Frani added an RBI.
It was not until Thursday that Cicero-North Syracuse saw its first game action of the season, and the Northstars got an immediate idea of the work that lay ahead, taking a 5-3 loss to Oneida.
A pair of early runs had the Indians up 2-0 before C-NS tied it in the third, then briefly took a 3-2 lead in the fourth as Danielle Filapello and Tahlia Gerardi both earned RBIs, with Riley Barrett and Megan Johnston scoring runs.
Oneida fought back, though, using three runs in the fourth off Eva Farone to go back in front. Despite two scoreless innings of relief from Sydney Puttkamer, the Northstars could not catch up as Kerring Crysler closed it out for the Indians, having seen teammate Olivia Friend belt a home run.
C-NS then defeated Rome Free Academy 5-3 on Friday, using three runs in the third inning to break out of a 2-2 tie. Farone’s pair of doubles led to three RBIs as Gerardi drove in a run.
