CENTRAL NEW YORK – Twice in a span of three days, the Skaneateles and Solvay softball teams were to face one another, a crucial mid-season test for programs both eager to join their neighbors from Marcellus as a Class B contender.
In the first of these games last Tuesday, it was the Bearcats prevailing 9-6, staging quite a comeback after the Lakers seized a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Offering an immediate answer, Solvay got five runs in the top of the third to tie it, then added two runs in the fourth to go ahead for good before getting a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.
Rachel Willsey’s home run was part of the rally as she finished with three RBIs. Jenna Wing tripled, singled twice and matched Willsey scoring three runs as Ariana Ortiz, Delaney Kaszubinski and Sylvia Sgroi-Whalen had one RBI apiece.
Carly Schell paced Skaneateles with two hits and two RBIs. Grace Wagner, Cydney Pitman, Ayla Pas’cal and Samantha Shaw also drove in runs, but Wing managed to pitch a complete game as Wagner took the loss.
Then the second game was closer but, again, Solvay won it, 10-9, with third and fourth-inning rallies producing an 8-1 edge before Skaneateles put up six runs in the fifth to nearly catch up.
Ultimately, single runs in the fifth and sixth innings helped Solvay hang on, Wing going four-for-five with three runes scored as Willsey had two hits and Alivia Orr scored twice. Reese Gaidis gave Skaneateles three RBIs as Ellie Walsh drove in two runs.
Following an 0-2 start, this was Solvay’s seventh win in a row – and the streak reached eight on Friday when the Bearcats toppled Cortland by a score of 6-2.
Stewart not only struck out seven and limited the Purple Tigers to three hits, she also tripled and got two RBIs at the plate. Kabuszinski also drove in a pair of runs as Wing and Ortiz each scored twice.
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Skaneateles had started the week by pounding out runs in a 25-3 win over Syracuse City to move above the .500 mark.
A 14-run second inning highlighted the Lakers’ efforts. Ayla Pas’cal twice homered and scored four times, with Schell and Finn Pas’cal also scoring four times. Wagner and Walsh had three RBIs apiece, with Walsh joining Finn Pas’cal in getting four hits.
Still at no. 6 in the state Class B rankings entering the week, Marcellus gained a crucial win over a local rival last Wednesday when it went to Westhill and prevailed over the Warriors by a score of 5-1.
All of the Mustangs’ runs came early as it scored twice in the first and three times in the second. Bella Mondello’s two-run home run was the big blow as Jillian O’Connor singled twice and drove in two runs and Amelia Novitsky had two hits and scored twice.
The two runs Mondello gave herself were enough to win. Pitching another complete game, she piled up 14 strikeouts and only allowed two hits, one of them a seventh-inning double by Sydney Medeiros that produced Westhill’s lone run.
Marcellus got off to a slow start last Monday against Phoenix, but gradually took charge and beat the Firebirds 12-4. Carly Sears got 11 strikeouts in six innings as Novitsky went four-for-five with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored. Chloe Kutruff drove in a pair of runs.
When those two sides met again Friday, Marcellus needed just five innings to put together a 27-1 victory sparked by a 12-run first inning. Mondello doubled, singled twice and had a season-best six RBIs, with Kuttruff’s trio of hits driving in four runs as Novitsky finished with three RBIs and Maddie Richer two RBIs.
Senior Day was held Saturday, and Marcellus commemorated it by defeating Christian Brothers Academy 8-2 to complete a perfect 4-0 run through the week and improve to 10-2 overall.
Mondello’s complete-game pitching effort featured 10 strikeouts and an attack that peaked with a four-run second inning and three-run sixth. O’Connor, one of those seniors, got three hits, with Kuttruff and Richer earning two RBIs apiece.
This happened as Skaneateles had its own romp of Phoenix, a 16-1 game where at least one run was scored in every inning. Ayla Pas’cal scored four times as Schell drove in a pair of runs and Wagner added an RBI.
