ONONDAGA COUNTY – When questions about who stood atop Section III Class AA softball were asked, Liverpool could not point to a better record or to a better state ranking than its neighbors from Baldwinsville.
However, the Warriors could note that, entering last week, it had given the Bees its lone defeat of the season in a lopsided 13-0 romp late in April and that it also had played a tougher schedule.
But each of those talking points were quieted in last Wednesday’s rematch with B’ville at Ray Middle school where superb pitching from Taylor Tripodi and two rallies were all the Bees needed to prevail 5-0.
Again facing Warriors pitching ace Cassie Wiggins, the Bees put two runners on base in the bottom of the first inning, only to have Bianca DeSellems hit into a double play started with a good snare from Julia Wike, who made three different strong defensive plays by game’s end.
Meanwhile, Tripodi was amassing six strikeouts in her first three innings, and would get all the help she needed in the bottom of the third.
Hadley Michaels reached base on an error. Two batters later, Grace Branshaw bunted and popped out, and Michaels was nearly doubled off first base, but the ball was dropped.
This gave Nadzan a chance to hit – and the right-hander drilled a Wiggins pitch the opposite way, over the right-field fence for a two-run home run.
Staked to that 2-0 lead, Tripodi did not allow a hit until the top of the sixth, when Brooke Tyler led off with a single. But Tyler was stranded when Tripodi recorded her ninth and 10th strikeouts of the game and induced Wike to fly out.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the Bees clinched it with three runs. Nadzan reached on an infield hit, went to third on DeSellems’ bunt and scored on a grounder by Bella Hotchkiss. Ayla Fleming followed with an RBI single and Michaels added a run-scoring single.
Cicero-North Syracuse showed further signs of emerging from its season-long struggles when it rallied from an early 3-0 deficit and defeated Fayetteville-Manlius 8-5 last Wednesday afternoon.
A five-run second inning erased the Hornets’ early 3-1 advantage, and a pair of insurance runs in the fifth helped, too, as Danielle Filapello earned three hits at the plate, including a double, and drove in a pair of runs.
Aubrey Coyle, Bella Julian and Sydney Nesci each scored twice, with Riley Barrett and Tahlia Gerardi getting RBIs and Lillian Hotaling pitching a complete game to earn the win.
Then C-NS challenged Liverpool on Thursday, and this game far more resembled their past battles, the Warriors having to rally to beat the Northstars 3-2.
Down 1-0 after one innings, C-NS went in front when McKayla Barnett connected on one of her two doubles and, along with Barrett, was able to score.
Hotaling pitched well, allowing nine hits but never letting Liverpool get a big inning together. Still, single runs in the fifth and sixth got the Warriors in front, Gracie Zankowski getting three hits and scoring twice as Mackenzie Frani also had three hits and produced a pair of RBIs. Tristen LaForte drove in the other run.
Then Liverpool beat F-M 7-4 on Saturday with two-hit outings from Wiggins, Frani, LaForte and Lauren Ragonese, LaForte’s pair of doubles led to two RBIs as Wiggins also drove in two runs and Zankowski scored twice.
Despite B’ville’s better overall record, Liverpool had the top seed in the four-team sectional Class AA playoff bracket, headed for a semifinal this Saturday at Onondaga Community College against no. 4 seed Rome Free Academy that starts at 4 p.m.
Right after that is the other AA semifinal, where C-NS, the no. 3 seed, gets another opportunity at a no. 2 seed B’ville side it lost to twice in lopsided games in the regular season. Here, the winner goes to the June 1 sectional final at Carrier Park.
