ONONDAGA COUNTY – For decades now, followers of the Baldwinsville softball team dreamed of just what it would witness on a gray, cool Tuesday afternoon late in April.
Dominated for so long by powerhouse Cicero-North Syracuse, the Bees completely turned it around and, by a 17-1 margin, reinforced its place atop the SCAC Metro division and area Class AA ranks.
C-NS had graduated most of its lineup from last year’s Section III championship team and had gone through plenty of early struggles, capped by a 27-6 loss to Camden a week before it faced B’ville.
Wasting little time, the undefeated Bees struck for three runs in the bottom of the first inning and then broke it open by batting around in the third and plating six runs.
Ultimately, B’ville finished with 21 hits, four each by Ayla Fleming and Bella Nazdan, who joined Bianca DeSellems by scoring three runs.
Bella Hotchkiss had a single, double and three RBIs. DeSellems, Grace Branshaw, Leah VerSchneider and Hadley Michaels drove in two runs apiece.
Meanwhile, Taylor Tripodi, who also drove in a run, didn’t need much run support. She held C-NS to three hits while amassing 14 strikeouts in a complete-game effort.
Now at 9-0, B’ville was set to take aim at Liverpool Thursday afternoon – only to find the Warriors far more than an elusive target as, for the first time this season, the Bees absorbed a defeat.
Liverpool’s impressive 13-0 victory featured rallies of multiple runs in five different innings off Tripodi and Hotchkiss, with every Warrior batter getting at least one hit, three each by Jenna Wike, Noelle Wike, Lauren Ragonese and Ava Falvo.
Meanwhile, B’ville had eight hits, four of them by Branshaw, yet could not put across a run against Cassie Wiggins, who constantly escaped trouble to preserve her shutout.
With time to recover from this initial setback, B’ville returns on Tuesday to host Rochester Mercy before games later this week at West Genesee and Rome Free Academy.
