DEWITT – Sixty feet was all that separated the Baldwinsville softball team from having a chance to follow up its first-ever Section III Class AA championship with a regional title.
Yet the Bees, so close to that tying run in Saturday’s regional final against Section II’s Shenendehowa at Carrier Park, never could pull even, ultimately taking a 5-4 defeat to the Plainsmen.
Shen was a program much more accustomed to these types of games, but B’ville was competitive against them in a 4-2 defeat on May 7, and the same proved true here.
A series of hits in the top of the second inning gave the Plainsmen a 4-0 advantage, one that the Bees started to cut into when Maddy Gulich recorded an RBI single in the bottom of the second.
Gulich was in the middle of things again two innings later, her one-grounder with two on leading to an error that scored a run and led to Julianna Gingrich’s RBI single that made it 4-3.
Shen put across a run in the top of the fifth to double the margin to 5-3, but in the bottom of that frame the Bees two singles led to Hannah Caughey’s RBI single to again cut the deficit to four.
Then, with one out, B’ville loaded the bases, only to see Gulich fly out to shallow left field, too short to bring the run home, and Gingrich ground out.
It happened again in the bottom of the sixth, Mia Amato working a walk and moving to third with two out. Bella Hotchkiss could tie it with a single, but struck out.
After a rough start, Hotchkiss retired the last seven batters she faced. But Shen pitcher Breanna Hayes worked a 1-2-3 seventh, getting LeahVerSchneider to ground out and striking out Caughey and Hadlei Parnell to end it.
