CENTRAL NEW YORK – Undefeated and rolling through its early-season opposition, the Chittenango softball team would face three opponents in a span of less than 48 hours late last week.
The first of these games proved the easiest for the Bears, who put up six first-inning runs against Phoenix last Thursday, added four runs in the second and fourth innings and blanked the Firebirds 15-0.
Helped by six Phoenix errors, Chittenango saw winning pitcher Lauren Machan and Mackenna Palko get three hits apiece, Machan also earning two RBIs.
Anna Cavotta drove in three runs, with Stephanie Huckabee adding two RBIs as Caroline Porter and Savannah Drake both had one RBI.
What followed on Friday was a game with Central Square was a far closer contest, at least for a while, but a big start and a better finish pushed Chittenango past the Redhawks 10-4.
A four-run first inning got the Bears in front, and when Central Square threatened to hang around, Chittenango tacked on a run in the fifth and then broke out in the sixth for five insurance runs.
Anna Spencer’s pair of singles led to three RBIs as Machan drove in two runs. Drake, Hckabees and Cavotta each scored twice, with Porter striking out six in her complete-game pitching effort.
Then, in Saturday’s ALS Tournament at the Gillette Road complex, Chittenango faced Fayetteville-Manlius and saw that seven-game win streak ended by the Hornets in a tense 3-2 decision.
Led by Palko’s two hits and an RBI, the Bears, with single runs in the second and third innings, led 2-0, but F-M answered with a run in the bottom of the third.
Then the Hornets tied the game 2-2 in the fifth and won it two innings later, Olivia Sczerbaniewicz driving in the-go-ahead run. Cavotta, in defeat, added two more hits to her total.
Cazenovia put up its best offensive numbers in two years in last Thursday’s game against its Laker rivals from Skaneateles, yet still absorbed an 18-12 defeat.
It was tied 4-4 before Skaneateles netted five unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings, plus a five-run fifth, as it crossed the plate at least once in every single inning. Kelly Goldberger and Ellie Walsh had three RBIs apiece.
Battling back late, Cazenovia did see Sophie Wilmot, Paige Reilley, Abby Falso and Riley Newcomb get two hits apiece, with Cadence Walter and Skylar Dannan matching Wilmot and Reilley’s two-RBI totals.
On Friday, making up a game against Oswego postponed earlier in the week, the Lakers lost 11-3 to a Buccnaeers side who scored three times in each of the first two innings and five more runs in fifth to pull away.
Of Cazenovia’s four hits, three of them came from Wilmot, who scored twice as Dannan added a single and RBI.
All of this led to Saturday’s game against Homer at the ALS Classic where the Lakers handled the Trojans 12-4 and, by doing so, gave first-year head coach Victoria Gilliland her first win at the helm.
A five-run third inning turned the game around as Cazenovia took full advantage of Homer’s seven errors, while Reilley pitched a complete game with five strikeouts.
