CENTRAL NEW YORK – No one in Section III softball had a better state ranking than Marcellus, with the Mustangs sitting at no. 6 in the Class B poll, ahead of four others in the section and equaled only by Hamilton in Class D.
The Mustangs would face Westhill on back-to-back days late last week, and in Thursday’s opener Aubrey Fraher had another superb all-around effort in a 7-0 shutout of the Warriors.
Not only did Fraher limit Westhill to three hits (two of them by Alexa Korrie), she recorded 11 strikeouts without a walk and, at the plate, smashed a home run and single, finishing with three RBIs.
Jillian O’Connor’s triple and single helped drive in a pair of runs, while Bryn Goldsworthy and Katie MacLachlan had one RBI apiece and Elaine Grattan scored twice.
Friday’s rematch would see an identical winning margin for Marcellus, except that in this case Westhill did put runs on the board amid the Mustangs’ 9-2 victory.
Runs in each of the first five innings proved enough for Annabella Mondello, who earned 10 strikeouts, but saw her shutout get away when the Warriors’ Isabella Johnson ripped a two-run single in the sixth.
By then, though, the Mustangs had seen Emma MacLachlan go three-for-four with two doubles and three RBIs. Fraher again went three-for-three, scoring twice and driving in two runs, with Mondello, Carly Hopper and Brooklyn Finarty getting one RBI apiece.
Prior to this, against Mexico last Tuesday, Marcellus got a personal milestone from Emma MacLachlan as she nearly hit for the cycle in an 18-1 victory over the Tigers.
With a home run, triple and double, MacLachlan surpassed 100 career hits while earning five RBIs as Marcellus scored three times in the first two innings before six-run rallies in the third and fifth.
Fraher pitched, struck out seven and held Mexico to four hits while going three-for-three at the plate and scoring three runs, equaling Grattan. Finnarty doubled, singled and drove in three runs as Katie MacLachlan added a pair of RBIs.
Westhill played again on Saturday and lost, 9-5, to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, even though Tori Militi gave the Warriors three hits and an RBI as she and Abby Cottrell both scored twice.
Off until Thursday afternoon, West Genesee met Fulton and controlled most of the game, but couldn’t recover from one bad inning in a 7-4 loss to the Red Raiders.
All of Fulton’s runs came in the top of the second, with two-run doubles by Lydia Morabito and Riley Kempston highlighting the long rally.
Despite giving up 14 hits overall, Maria Brandt and Lorelai Leskoske blanked the Red Raiders the rest of the way and WG did inch closer thanks to Anna Drogo’s pair of RBIs as Brandt and Alanna Bowman also drove in runs.
But the Wildcats recovered from this in a big way on Friday, knocking off reigning sectional Class AA champion Cicero-North Syracuse 5-1.
Even in a down year for the Northstars, beating them meant plenty to WG, who used a trio of first-inning runs and two runs in the fifth to prevail as Brandt, supporting her own pitching, doubled and drove in two runs, with Sophia VanHorn adding three hits and an RBI.
Bishop Ludden continued its mid-season resurgence last Tuesday with an 11-4 victory over Fabius-Pompey in the first game of a doubleheader where an eight-run fifth inning made the difference, though the Gaelic Knights did lose, 12-6, to the Falcons in the second game and then fell 16-1 to Pulaski on Friday afternoon.
