CENTRAL NEW YORK – Everything had gone right for the Baldwinsville softball team before its 13-0 defeat to Liverpool on April 28.
With a few days to rest and work on all that went wrong against the Warriors, the Bees, no. 20 in the state Class AA rankings, saw that rest extended when rain postponed last Monday’s game against Rochester Mercy.
So by the time it made up the game with Mercy on Thursday, B’ville had not played in a full week, having seen another game rained out on Wednesday, this one against West Genesee.
As it turned out, the game with Mercy was an exciting one, with the Bees surrendering a three-run advantage but still pulling out a 4-3 win over the Monarchs.
B’ville scored once in the first inning and twice in the third to go up 3-0, a lead Taylor Tripodi protected until Mercy got on the board with a run in the fourth and tied it, 3-3, with two runs in the sixth.
Bella Hotchkiss relieved Tripodi and pitched a scoreless seventh inning, setting the stage for the Bees to push across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Bianca DeSellems had a big day at the plate, hitting a home run, adding two doubles and earning three RBIs. Leah VerSchneider drove in the other run as Bella Nazdan scored twice and Hotchkiss added a pair of hits.
At Rome Free Academy two days later, B’ville broke out the big bats in the first two innings to get all it would need as it defeated the Black Knights 13-6.
The first inning all but decided matters as the Bees piled up eight runs, batting around. Then it added four runs in the second for a quick 12-0 advantage, far more than RFA could overcome.
Nazdan was unstoppable, going four-for-five with a triple, three singles and five RBIs. Ayla Fleming singled, doubled and drove in two runs as Hotchkiss, Hadley Michaels and Hannah Caughey had one RBI apiece.
Three road games greet the 11-1 Bees this week, with a trip Tuesday to Fayetteville-Manlius, Thursday to Cicero-North Syracuse and Saturday to face reigning sectional Class A champion Auburn.
