MALTA – At least in theory, the seven days of rest the Liverpool softball team got after its tough, emotional win over Cicero-North Syracuse in the May 24 Section III Class AA championship game was welcome and necessary.
Not only did the Warriors get plenty of time to rest and recuperate, it would also get ample practice knowing the challenges that lay ahead in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament.
With the program’s first-ever state title the ultimate goal, Liverpool traveled to Malta’s Luther Forest Athletic Field last Saturday to face Section II champion Saratoga Springs in the regional finals with a trip to this weekend’s state final four on Long Island at stake.
It didn’t take long, though, for the Blue Streaks to assert control – and once it did, Liverpool never got it back, ultimately taking a 7-0 defeat.
Saratoga had won the Section II title as a no. 5 seed, and showed why in the bottom of the first inning, striking for three runs off Warriors pitching ace Mackenzie Frani.
Jackie Cutting reached base, raced to third and scored on a wild pitch. Then a double steal brought another run home, and the Blue Streaks made it 3-0 on Charlotte Drabek’s single.
Now it was the Warriors’ task to try and get some runs off Cutting, but the Saratoga pitcher proved too tough. Over seven innings, she allowed just one hit, from Lauren Ragonese, while Frani drew the only walk.
Though not overpowering, Cutting did manage five strikeouts and got just one error from her defense. What’s more, the Blue Streaks kept hitting, tacking on a run in the third, two runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth.
Frani also managed five strikeouts but surrendered 12 hits, with Drabek going three-for-three and Emily Ruscio adding a pair of hits.
This 12-8 season that concluded with a sectional title was a curtain call for several strong Liverpool seniors such as Frani, Ragonese, Joelle Wike, Katia Flavin, Ava Falvo and Brooke Tyler, who were part of two sectional titles and a 2022 trip to the state Class AA title game.
Much of the starting lineup will need to be replaced in 2025, but the returning players will have a mission to continue what the Warriors accomplished this spring.
