ONONDAGA COUNTY – n order to even have a chance at at second Section III title in three years, the Baldwinsville softball team faced the enormous task of beating both of its main rivals in the two rounds leading up to the title game.
And the Bees accomplished it, capped by Thursday’s stirring 2-1 victory over top seed Cicero-North Syracuse in the Class AAA semifinals at Onondaga Community College.
What made it even better was, aside from the familiarity of the opposition, the fact that the Northstars beat B’ville twice earlier in the month, though the 5-1 and 2-1 margins of those games suggested that the two sides were quite close.
Now they met for the sixth straight post-season dating back to 2019 and C-NS got the jump, Kiyara Bembry reaching base and then racing home on Mia Farone’s single.
Yet that was all pitcher Mackenzie Southworth allowed. All the Northstars managed was just a pair of hits over the last six innings giving the Bees ample time to do something about its 1-0 deficit.
In the top of the third it was Julianna Gingrich with a single to tie it 1-1, and two innings later she drove in the go-ahead run, with Marissa McCloud and Katelyn Pearce scoring after they reached base with singles.
Though Bembry and fellow C-NS pitcher Mila Owens only gave up four hits, B’ville protected that one-run margin as Southworth worked her total to seven strikeouts and overcame seven walks to win it.
B’ville first had the task of facing no. 4 seed Liverpool in the opening round on Tuesday in a game postponed several times before the weather cleared up and conditions dried.
Yet the delay did nothing to hurt the Bees, who with a timely late outburst at the plate prevailed 6-3 over a Warriors side it had defeated 4-3 in their only regular-season encounter on April 24.
In the top of the third inning B’ville scored twice to erase a 1-0 deficit. Liverpool countered with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and remained in front 3-2 going to the top of the seventh.
Then the Bees finally got to Lexi Goodfellow for a decisive four-run rally, with big hits from Jenna Martin and Frankie DeSantis as they both finished with a pair of RBIs. McCloud singled, doubled and drove in a run as Gingrich scored twice thanks to her single and double.
Southworth was able to get the final three outs, part of a steady complete game where she allowed eight hits, foreshadowing the same poise she would show against C-NS to set up a sectional title game against Rome Free Academy at Carrier Park.
