SYRACUSE – Even though the Liverpool softball team has won Section III championships and plenty of big games before, it has never done so like this.
Down to its last out, down to its last strike, and counted out more than once, the Warriors somehow overcame all of it to prevail 4-3 over Baldwinsville in an epochal sectional Class AA final Thursday night at Onondaga Community College.
Cassie Wiggins threw the first pitch of the evening just before 9 p.m. Nearly three hours later, and with a threatened curfew moments away, Wiggins ended it when her two-out single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth scored Gracie Zankowski with the winning run.
“This is probably the best game I’ve ever played in,” said Wiggins.
Head coach Phil DeAugustine praised his team’s resilience, saying that this championship was a surprise given its relative youth – just two seniors, five sophomores in key roles – especially compared with the experienced Bees lineup.
An already important game between a long-established Liverpool program and a B’ville side that had never won a sectional title before only built in anticipation when heavy rains on Wednesday forced a postponement and the game to be moved twice – first from Carrier Park to Hopkins Road Park, and then to OCC.
Yet even the circumstances surrounding the game would pale next to what actually took place, especially at the end.
B’ville appeared to be in control. Grace Branshaw’s two-run single in the top of the third put the Bees in front 2-0, and after Liverpool cut it to 2-1 in the fourth, Branshaw delivered a two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh.
So entering the bottom of the seventh, the Warriors trailed 3-1. What’s more, it had only managed a single hit off B’ville ace Taylor Tripodi, who had retired seven in a row and then got the first two outs in the seventh.
All of the Bees’ fans were anticipating a celebration within moments. Meanwhile, Zankowski said she never thought she would get a chance to hit again.
Then Maya Mills drew a walk. Ava Falvo, the Warriors’ no. 9 hitter, beat out a bunt single, putting the tying run on base, which moved over to second when Julia Wike walked to load the bases.
Up stepped Zankowski. Now that she was at the plate, she said, “I had confidence in myself”, but she quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count, one strike from the Bees winning the title.
But on the 0-2 pitch Zankowski lofted it to left field and it fell for a hit that scored both Mills and Falvo, tying it 3-3 and causing the Liverpool fans to erupt. From the brink, the Warriors had pushed the game to extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, a rattled Tripodi walked both Mackenzie Frani and Lauren Ragonese on four pitches. A sacrifice bunt put the winning run on third, but Lily Stevens grounded to second, and Ayla Fleming threw home, Leah VerSchneider’s tag getting Frani. A groundout ended the threat.
B’ville then loaded the bases in the top of the ninth when Tripodi singled and walks were issued to Branshaw and Hadlei Parnell. Bella Nadzan, who had homered the last time these two teams met, hit a sinking drive that Stevens scooped to Frani in time for the third out.
Now, in the bottom of the ninth, another crisis loomed. With the clock close to midnight, officials had decided that, if it remained 3-3, the game would halt and resume on Friday afternoon.
Not knowing this, Zankowski, with two out, singled and then sped to second on a wild throw. That brought up Wiggins, who often in the game had pitched out of jams with runners on base when B’ville had chances to build upon its early lead, helped by several fine defensive plays.
Having missed a chance to end it in the seventh when she struck out looking, Wiggins said she looked for an off-speed pitch to take and then would wait on a fastball – which she did, and the fastball was hit to center, leaving no chance for the Bees to keep Zankowski from racing home.
As Zankowski crossed the plate, said Wiggins, “I was so happy and screaming.” So were her teammates, a young squad that, up against long odds in a high-pressure situation, had claimed one of the most memorable victories in the Liverpool softball program’s long and storied history.
