CENTRAL NEW YORK – When the East Syracuse Minoa softball team met Jamesville-DeWitt on Monday afternoon, it hoped to catch the Red Rams exhausted from a week where it played seven games in seven days.
The Spartans, still mad at surrendering a five-run lead in an 8-5 defeat to Marcellus on May 6, began the week with a 17-2 romp over Syracuse City.
Modest production was the order of things until a 10-run outburst in the top of the seventh. Brooke Kirkpatrick, Sara Brefka and Madelin Marquart had three hits apiece, Brefka driving in three runs as Marquart, Ava Burry and Maya Boots had two RBIs apiece.
Then ESM blanked Cortland 11-0 on Wednesday afternoon, Olivia Goff striking out 13 and holding the Purple Tigers to four hits while, at the plate, Kirkpatrick’s home run highlighted an effort where Goff went four-for-five and joined Kirkpatrick and Burry with two RBIs apiece.
Things turned around Thursday when ESM lost, 7-1, to Central Square. Juliana Orcutt doubled home Burry in the top of the fifth to cut a 2-0 deficit in half, but the Redhawks answered with five runs in the bottom of the fifth, chasing Goff as Payton St. Clair’s home run was the big blow.
Yet another reversal on Friday had ESM handling Oswego 9-2, erasing a 2-1 Buccaneers lead with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth as Orcutt and Brefka had two RBIs apiece and Kirkpatrick scored twice. Goff struck out 13 in her complete-game effort.
This busy week concluded for ESM with a 15-2 win over Christian Brothers Academy that featured six-run rallies in the first and seventh innings and 14 hits, three of them by Kirkpatrick, who joined Brefka, Orcutt and Mya Quonce driving in two runs apiece as Madelin Marquart notched three RBIs.
Fayetteville-Manlius met a West Genesee side last Tuesday that it beat 13-11 in April, but here had more difficulty keeping up with the Wildcats, who prevailed 12-5.
Four-run rallies in the third and fourth innings put WG in control, the Hornets unable to fully answer it, though it did pick up 10 hits. The Wildcats’ Maddie Barstow had four RBIs and Lexi Rydelek hit a home run as she and Anna Drogo got three RBIs apiece.
Then, facing Baldwinsville on Thursday, the Hornets erased a 9-4 deficit with five runs in the top of the sixth. Then they exchanged runs in the seventh, but the Bees pulled it out 11-10 when it scored in the bottom of the ninth, ultimately snapping a six-game skid.
Long before it played ESM, CBA scored in every inning except the first last Tuesday to beat Cazenovia 14-4, the Brothers seeing Maricatherine Giamartino go four-for-four with two RBIs and three runs scored. Aubrey Vincentini drove in three runs and Avery Bowman added two RBIs.
More runs followed in Thursday’s wild 18-11 win over Hannibal, the game on even terms until the Brothers erupted for 11 runs in the bottom of the fifth to break a 4-4 tie.
Bowman provided the power surge, twice connecting on home runs and finishing with five RBIs. Giamartino and Allison Boule drove in two runs apiece as Boule and Bowman each scored three times.
Bishop Grimes lost 18-3, to Pulaski last Monday, the Blue Devils led by Izzy Dobson’s home run and five RBIs. A 25-4 defeat to Onondaga followed a day later, Kaidence Cronin going deep twice and going five-for-five with six RBIs to pace the Tigers.
From all this, Grimes was able to contain a strong Altmar-Parish-Williamstown squad for most of last Thursday’s game, even if the Rebels prevailed 7-0 as Leslie Lewis got two RBIs and pitcher Isabelle Koagel held the Cobras to three hits.
