CENTRAL NEW YORK – Tested in so many ways throughout the spring, both by opponents and by starts and stops in the schedule due to weather, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team now entered the Section III Class A playoffs still with the same goal – win it.
To do it, J-D will have to work from a no. 5 seed in Class A, meeting no. 4 seed Central Valley Academy in this Thursday’s quarterfinal round with the winner likely having to deal with top seed Camden at Onondaga Community College for the semifinal round two days later.
An abbreviated schedule in the final week of the regular season did not help the state no. 18-ranked Red Rams, who had to wait until Thursday to play again – and when it did, it a doubleheader sweep of Syracuse by scores of 20-0 and 19-0.
Far closer was Friday’s game, a 4-3 thriller over Auburn where J-D netted three first-inning runs and added a run in the third for a 4-0 lead, yet watched the Maroons score three times in the sixth before Keira McMahon pitched a scoreless seventh to win it.
East Syracuse Minoa went up against Auburn last Monday at Carrier Park and put up plenty of runs, yet still lost 13-8 to the Maroons in a game shortened to six innings by rain.
The Spartans led 4-0 through three innings before Auburn struck for five runs in the top of the fourth. ESM answered, reclaiming the lead 7-5, but the Maroons used a six-run fifth to move ahead for good.
Julianna Orcutt was special for ESM, going three-for-four as her trio of singles led to five RBIs. Hannah Decker, Mya Quonce and Maddy Marquart also drove in runs as Auburn got four RBIs from Lainey Lowe, who also pitched 5 2/3 innings.
Back in action on Thursday, the Spartans lost 8-0 to Oswego, who broke it open with a five-run second inning and had pitcher Maria Sweet hold ESM to one hit, from Orcutt, while also getting two hits and five RBIs at the plate.
Fayetteville-Manlius got back on the field last Wednesday against Oswego and beat the Buccaneers 8-6, taking the lead for good with a four-run third inning that broke a 2-2 tie.
A four-run fifth by Oswego cut it to 7-6, but F-M got an insurance run in the seventh and earned the final three outs, Alexis Hamilton getting the win as Megan Woodridge tripled, singled and scored twice. Samantha Monroe earned three RBIs and Anna Egan drove in a pair of runs. Avery Howe added an RBI.
Far different was a 22-4 defeat to Liverpool on Thursday afternoon, the Warriors starting out with an eight-run first inning and building from there despite two hits from Woodridge and RBIs from Howe, Anna Arthur, Emily Wilson and Aviliene Terry. A 10-5 loss to Cicero-North Syracuse followed on Friday as F-M fell to 6-13.
Christian Brothers Academy had one of the most prolific days in program history last Thursday while ripping past Homer 30-3, with Avery Bowman having a particularly special effort.
At least five runs were scored in all five innings – seven in the first, seven in the fifth, and Bowman was involved in all of it, from a home run to a double to a single that amounted to a single-game school-record nine RBIs.
Juliette Zimmerman added three hits and five RBIs, with the quartet of Julia Achuff, Giana Anderson, Abby Benzinger and Grace Bertone-Nicotra getting three RBIs apiece. Lauren Zollo and Allison Boule each scored four runs as Maricatherine Giamartino tacked on three hits.
The doubleheader featured 51 runs on CBA’s part as it won the other game 21-3, scoring all those runs in the first three innings as Zimmerman homered, doubled and got six RBIs. Boule, Anderson and Aubrey Vincentini drove in two runs apiece and Bowman scored four times as Peyton Woodcock scored three runs.
Then CBA won a tense 3-2 battle over Skaneateles on Saturday, building a 3-0 lead by the fourth inning on RBIs from Anderson and Gracie Battles and then hanging on despite the Lakers out-hitting them 8-4.
F-M and CBA, as the no. 4 and 5 seeds in the Class AA sectional bracket, will meet each other Thursday in the quarterfinals, two days after no. 8 seed ESM hosts no. 9 seed Fulton with the winner getting top seed Whitesboro in that same quarterfinal round.
Bishop Grimes finally reached the win column last Tuesday afternoon, the Cobras breaking a 12- game skid when it went to Hannibal and pulled out a 10-6 victory.
Trailing 4-1 through three innings, Grimes turned it around with a seven-run fourth where it batted around, then added two runs in the fifth. June Hilton went four-for-four and drove in two runs, with Rainbow Butler and Ruby Butler adding two RBIs apiece as Antonella Ascioti scored twice and Liz Corl added an RBI.
Plenty of runs were scored Friday, Grimes falling 13-10 to Syracuse City despite Myla Pankow scoring four times as she, along with Phoebe Carroll and Elizabeth Corl, had two hits apiece. The Cobras would meet Westmoreland Monday in an opening-round sectional Class C game, the winner to get no. 3 seed Cato-Meridian a day later.
