CENTRAL NEW YORK – Whatever else was going on in area high school softball, seeing Jamesville-DeWitt take a string of early-season defeats was quite unusual.
Yet by the time the Red Rams shut out East Syracuse Minoa 7-0 last Thursday afternoon, a bit of order had returned, J-D getting a great pitching performance from Emily Qiao, who only allowed five hits in her complete-game effort.
Hannah Decker, pitching for ESM, surrendered three runs in the first two innings, then saw the Rams get away with four runs in the fifth as Qiao, Maddie Murphy and Addison Bufis each got two RBIs and every J-D player in the lineup had at least one hit.
The Rams lost twice on April 19 against a pair of Section II foes, starting with a 5-3 decision against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake where it could not quite overcome a 4-0 late-game deficit.
All of J-D’s runs came in the fifth and sixth innings as Qiao, Savannah Schnorr and Emily Qiao had one RBI apiece. Then J-D fell to Saratoga Springs 15-5, with Qiao and fellow pitcher Kayla McQuaid giving up 17 hits between them.
Only when it came back to league action last Monday did J-D start to win on a regular basis, handling Oswego 6-1 last Monday by getting three runs in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth to seize control.
Lyla Commandeur’s triple and three RBIs led the way. Bufis got an RBI and Qiao also drove in a run while pitching a complete game and limiting the Buccaneers to five hits.
Before it lost to J-D, climbed back to the .500 mark (3-3) last Monday at Carrier Park with a 7-1 win over Auburn where pitcher Ava Meyer shut out the Maroons until the sixth inning and only gave up six his in her complete-game effort.
Two-run rallies in the second, third and fifth innings followed a run in the first as Sydney Gurniak’s pair of hits led two RBIs. Juliana Orcutt also scored twice, joining Meyer, Mya Quonce, Maddy Marquart and Addison Adames earning one RBI apiece.
Bishop Grimes got overwhelmed last Monday in a 24-10 defeat to Onondaga. Myla Pankow led the Cobras with three RBIs and Luella Kiefer drove in two runs, with RBIs also going to Phoebe Carroll, Jenna Gardner and Antonella Ascioti. A 10-1 loss to Cato-Meridian followed two days later, Gabby St. James scoring her team’s lone run.
