CENTRAL NEW YORK – Off to a perfect 5-0 start, the Jordan-Elbridge softball team hoped to end April just as it started, with plenty of runs on the board and little surrendered.
Another shutout, and another double-digit margin, was put together last Tuesday afternoon at Bishop Ludden as the Eagles blanked the Gaelic Knights 13-0.
Here, Ava Hildebrant pitched three no-hit innings to help Abby DelFavero, the pair combining for nine strikeouts.
J-E got all it needed in an eight-run first inning as Cameron Fraher led the way with four RBIs. DelFavero and Isabella Jay each drove in a pair of runs, with Hildebrandt getting a triple as she and Riley Hill had one RBI apiece.
Playing again on Friday against Pulaski, J-E blanked Pulaski 9-0, helped in no small part by the Blue Devils’ six errors, but still pounding out 15 hits to support DelFavero’s latest shutout that included eight strikeouts and just four hits allowed.
At the plate, DelFavero had three hits, but so did Naveh Foster and Erin LaVancha. Hildebrant drove in a pair of runs, with RBIs also credited to Foster, LaVancha, Jay, Abbie Ahern and Cam Fraher.
West Genesee took a 5-2 record into last Monday’s game at Cicero-North Syracuse, where it put up 10 hits, yet could not convert them into enough runs in an 8-4 loss to the Northstars.
A three-run second inning had the Wildcats in front 3-1, but C-NS countered with three runs in the bottom of the third, adding two more runs in the fourth and fifth.
Eva Farone, Mia Farone and Tahlia Gerardi led the Northstars with two hits apiece as Sydney Rockwell drove in a pair of runs.
Then WG faced defending sectional Class AA champion Liverpool a day later, able to mostly contain LHS’s stellar lineup, but still take a 4-1 defeat.
Maria Brandt pitched and never surrendered a big inning, but Liverpool got to her for single runs in four of the first five innings and accumulated nine hits.
The Wildcats’ lone run came in the fourth when Alanna Bowman drilled a solo home run to cut it to 2-1. But Casssie Wiggins blanked WG the rest of the way and only gave up four hits overall.
Maybe the closeness of that game helped the Wildcats, though, for it roared back on Thursday and, against a strong Auburn side, put together an 8-5 victory over the Maroons.
WG scored twice in the top of the second. Auburn answered with a trio of runs and was still up, 3-2, when the Wildcats made its big move by plating five runs in the fifth, going ahead for good.
Strong at the plate, the Wildcats pounded out 16 hits, three each by Kara Lynch and Maria Brandt. Bowman’s pair of hits led to two RBIs as Anna Drogo, Sophia VanHorn and Maddie Barstow also had two-hit outings.
