CENTRAL NEW YORK – A couple of area high school softball teams had busy stretches during the April school break.
Fayetteville-Manlius got an impressive win last Monday against Central Square, scoring three runs in the first, second and fourth innings on the way to topping the Redhawks 10-2.
Power was the story of this game as three different Hornets – Megan Woodridge, Lillian Fowler and Alexis Hamilton – smashed home runs, with Fowler getting two other hits on her way to four RBIs.
Avery Howe and Anna Egan also drove in runs, while Hamilton, aside from her power, also pitched a complete game, limiting Central Square’s production despite allowing eight hits.
F-M looked to be in good shape against West Genesee a day later, netting seven runs in the bottom of the first inning after the Wildcats scored three times in the top of the first.
But WG landed a run in the second and, with a five-run fourth inning, moved out in front, ultimately hanging on 9-8 by keeping the Hornets scoreless over the last three innings. Anna Arthur drove in two runs, with Egan scoring twice as she, along with Fowler, Woodridge and Samantha Monroe, had two hits apiece.
With another chance against another league rival on Thursday, F-M blanked Cicero-North Syracuse for the first six innings and led, 2-0, thanks to run-scoring hits from Howe and Malea Coates.
Again, though, the Hornets couldn’t hold on. A stunning seventh-inning comeback by the Northstars resulted in a 3-2 F-M defeat as C-NS loaded the bases and won it with a walk and consecutive singles from Sydney Puttkamer and Isabella Moya.
Perhaps that result carried over because, on Friday, F-M fell 3-1 to Oswego, whose single runs in the first three innings held up as the Hornets were blanked after Woodridge singled and scored in the first inning.
Christian Brothers Academy got an early-season highlight from last Wednesday’s game with East Syracuse Minoa, managing to outscore the Spartans 17-11.
A seven-run second inning broke it open for the Brothers, and it added seven more runs in the next three innings plus two runs in the sixth to extend its margin to 17-4 before a late ESM push.
The 20 hits for CBA included a home run by Juliette Zimmerman, who went four-for-four, adding a double, two singles, four runs scored and four RBIs.
Maricatherine Giamartino drove in three runs, with Avery Bowman, Aubrey Vincentini, Grace Bertone-Nicotra and Gracie Battles getting two RBIs apiece. Sophie Banach and Maddie Marquart each drove in two runs for ESM, Hannah Decker adding two hits.
Before this, CBA hosted C-NS last Monday afternoon, and the Brothers could not recover from an eight-run first inning the Northstars put together on the way to prevailing 15-7.
CBA would score once in the first inning and twice in the third, fourth and seventh innings. Zimmerman homered and got three RBIS, while Giamartino and Allison Boule each had two hits, combining for three RBIs.
On Thursday, CBA took an 8-4 defeat to West Genesee, all of the Wildcats’ runs coming in the third, fourth and fifth innings as it overcame Zimmerman’s third home run of the week and three hits apiece from Vincentini and Boule.
