BELLPORT – For all the other things the Marcellus softball team has experienced during this decade of unprecedented success, something was missing – a trip to state championship weekend.
But the Mustangs finally got to experience this when it went to Long Island’s Martha Avenue Recreational Park in Bellport and aimed for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B title, only to get stopped one win short of the title game.
Wellsville, the Section V champions, proved to be the obstacle, the Lions jumping out in front of Marcellus early in Friday night’s state semifinal and eventually prevailing by a 6-2 margin.
One feature of Marcellus throughout its 2024 season was the fact that it got early leads for pitching ace Bella Mondello. That didn’t happen, though, against a Wellsville side with state final four experience from 2023 that it put to good use.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Lions’ Makenna Dunbar connected on a Mondello pitch and sent it over the fence, a solo home run followed up by two more runs that came home on Natalie Adams’ single.
For a while, Mondello settled down, working scoreless second and third innings, only to have Wellsville double its margin to 6-0 in the fourth, and while the Mustangs had chances left, the deficit was a large one.
Chloe Kuttruff and Jill O’Connor both reached base in the fifth – and both would score, Kuttruff on a perfectly laid bunt by Hannah Fagan and O’Connor on Carly Sears’ double. From there, though, Lions pitcher Makenzie Cowburn prevented anything further, ultimately earning 11 strikeouts to overcome seven hits by the Mustangs.
Mondello had six strikeouts to complete her senior season with 242. Now she, along with Fagan, Brynly Goldsworthy and Jill O’Connor, will graduate as part of a group where, in their four years at the school, Marcellus won the program’s first three sectional titles and a regional championship, too.
But with a strong returning cast that includes Kuttruff, Sears, Amelia Novitsky, Janzen Long, Maddie Richer and Jordan O’Connor, Marcellus will still have a title contender in 2025, especially if its pitching is anywhere close to the mastery of Mondello.
