BALDWINSVILLE – Only by getting a Section III Class AA championship can the pain the Baldwinsville softball team felt after seeing the 2022 sectional title game against Liverpool slip away at the last moment completely go away.
But the Bees at least know it can beat the reigning champions, as it did Thursday afternoon at Ray Middle School with a comprehensive effort that led to a 5-2 victory.
What happened in the first inning proved crucial. Liverpool’s Ava Falvo tripled with one out and Cassie Wiggins singled her home, but B’ville pitcher Bella Hotchkiss didn’t allow anything more – and would proceed to retire 17 straight batters.
Maddy Gulich tied it 1-1 by singling home Jenna Martin and, an inning later, the Bees went in front for good by loading the bases with one out and Martin’s single scoring Brianne Dzuba.
Wiggins constantly escaped trouble to keep the game 2-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when Gulich and Julianna Gingrich reached base and Leah VerSchneider tripled to the wall in right, scoring both. Another run scored on Hannah Caughey’s grounder.
It stayed 5-1 until the top of the seventh. Liverpool, trying to pull off another unlikely late-game comeback, got three singles, including a run-scoring hit from Lily Stevens, to get the tying run to the plate.
But Hotchkiss, who finished with nine strikeouts, coaxed Emily Nestor to pop out and end the game, the two sides set to meet again May 16 at Liverpool.
Not looking ahead to Liverpool, B’ville went to Fayetteville-Manlius last Monday and, with a steady, solid all-round performance, turned back the Hornets 7-1.
The Bees scored in four of the first five innings, capped by a three-run fifth. VerSchneider had two RBIs as she, along with Layla Trendowski, Ayla Fleming and Hadlei Parnell, had two hits apiece.
Hotchkiss was well aware of F-M’s comeback ability (it erased a double-digit deficit to beat Fulton earlier in the month) and never let it happen here, shutting out the Hornets until the bottom of the seventh and only allowing four hits, striking out five.
Just a day after beating Liverpool, B’ville took on Rome Free Academy and, perhaps having a bit of a letdown, ended up taking a 4-3, nine-inning defeat to the Black Knights.
The Bees used a pair of fourth-inning runs to erase a 3-1 deficit. Then neither side scored for four tense innings until, in the bottom of the eighth, RFA pushed across the winning run, led by Kennedy Campbell, who had three hits and three RBIs.
During next week’s action, B’ville travels to West Genesee, hosts Camden and then, on May 6, has two games scheduled at the Gillette Road complex in Cicero against Maine-Endwell at noon and Shenendehowa at 2 p.m.
