CENTRAL NEW YORK – Heading into the last week of the regular season, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team had to feel good about its chances to keep adding to its prodigious win total.
The Red Rams met Fulton last Monday and, again, saw its bats light up in a 16-5 victory over the Red Raiders, a nine-run first inning setting the game’s tone.
Emily Bulone went three-for-four with a triple, two singles and five RBIs. Miriam Zoghby scored three times and netted a pair of RBIs as Kayla McQuaid, Emma White and Amanda Aitken also drove in runs.
More runs followed a day later, J-D handling Oswego 14-0 as Kaira McMahon held the Buccaneers to one hit and struck out nine.
White’s pair of hits led to four RBIs. McQuaid and Bella Sindoni both drove in two runs as Dorazio amassed four hits and, with Bulone, scored three times.
When J-D blanked Syracuse City 16-0 on Thursday, it proved a tune-up for two games on Saturday against top teams from Section V (Fairport) and Section II (Ballston Spa). Ultimately, the Rams split those games, edging Ballston Spa 4-3 but falling to Fairport 7-1.
East Syracuse Minoa offered a challenge to Class AA favorite Liverpool and were terrific most of the way until one big inning cost the Spartans in a 7-2 loss to the Warriors.
Olivia Goff kept Liverpool off the board early, and was given a 2-0 lead when, in the bottom of the fourth, Madalynn Ryan doubled home Natalie Quonce and Jaylianna Sabatino.
Spartans pitcher Olivia Goff had stymied the Warriors, but it changed in the top of the sixth when Liverpool batted around and struck for all of its runs.
Mackenzie Frani, the winning pitcher, also had an RBI in that decisive sixth, joining Joelle Wike, Lily Stevens, Cassie Wiggins and Ava Falvo driving in runs. Stevens was the only Liverpool batter with two hits off Goff.
Recovering from this, ESM routed Cortland 17-0 a day later, highlighted by an 11-run fourth inning. Brooke Kirkpatrick banged a home run, tripled, singled, scored three times and got five RBIs. Quonce’s trio of hits led to three RBIs as Goff and Anastasia Cosco each drove in a pair of runs.
Thursday’s 6-0 win over Oswego was scoreless until the Spartans put across three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to help out Goff, who amassed 17 strikeouts while holding the Buccaneers to three hits. Sabatino led the way with three RBIs as Ava Burry also drove in a run.
Christian Brothers Academy took a 7-3 record into last Monday’s game with Westhill, looking to avenge a 22-6 defeat to the Warriors back in April.
Here, it was a lot closer, but again the Warriors prevailed, 7-5, rallying late in the sixth inning after the Brothers had taken a 5-4 lead with two runs in the third and three runs in the fifth.
Mackenzie Witz, Avery Bowman and Lauren Zollo each got two hits, with Juliette Zimmerman adding a double. Nicoletta Scrimale got two hits and scored twice to lead Westhill.
CBA won again on Thursday, topping Whitesboro 9-3 largely due to an eight-run second inning. Zollo and Allison Boule both had two-run singles as Erin Nardella added an RBI. Then the Brothers lost 21-1 to Marcellus on Friday.
Fayetteville-Manlius lost, 16-2, to Baldwinsville last Tuesday, but turned it around in a big way the very next day by putting together a 26-7 victory over West Genesee.
Seven-run rallies in the second and sixth innings bracketed 12 runs in between as Paige Graves went five-for-five with two doubles, three single and set a career mark with seven RBIs.
Gracie Bishop homered, doubled and drove in four runs, with Avery Howe getting three RBIs. Megan Woodridge, Ella Keyes and Julianna each drove in two runs and combined for eight hits.
In Friday’s 10-6 loss to Rome Free Academy, F-M got two hits apiece from Bishop, Graves and Woodridge, with Howe joining Bishop in the RBI column. Then the Hornets fell 5-0 to New Hartford on Saturday afternoon.
