Liverpool, C-NS softball fight through tough slate

By PHil BlACKWEll

When the Liverpool and CiceroNorth Syracuse softball teams conclude the regular season against one another, they do so both feeling good about where they were headed.

And no victory for Liverpool was as satisfying as the comeback it made last Wednesday against reigning sectional Class B champion Marcellus, resulting in a 7-5 victory that halted the Mustangs’ 12-game win streak.

Little worked in the early going as Marcellus charged in front 5-1, but all of that changed in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Batting around, Liverpool chased Mustangs ace Bella Mondello and put up six runs, two of them coming home on Emiy Nestor’s single as Joelle Wike, Gracie Zankowski and Mackenzie Frani also had RBIs.

It was Frani, taking on a larger pitching role this week as Cassie Wiggins sat out, benefiting from this rally. After giving up three runs in the first inning and two runs in the third, Frani relieved Maya Mills and blanked Marcellus the rest of the way, including the last two innings while preserving the lead.

Liverpool brought a four-game win streak into last Tuesday’s game against Auburn, where steady production at the plate was needed to defeat the Maroons 11-6.

Unlike its 6-1 win over Auburn on April 20, Liverpool had trouble keeping the opposition off the board, but made up for it with runs in each of the first six innings, capped by a four-run sixth that provided much-needed insurance.

Mills went three-for-three and scored three runs, with Lauren Ragonese getting a pair of RBIs. Wike and Zankowski also drove in runs as Frani again pitched a complete game.

All of this caught up to Liverpool Thursday when it lost, 6-5, to West Genesee, unable to hold on to a 5-2 lead as the Wildcats scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and won it on Alanna Bowman’s RBI single in the seventh.

Frani went 4 1/3 innings after Mills started. Liverpool got two hits apiece from Ragonese, Mills and Katia Flavin, with Mills earning a pair of RBIs.

A 5-1 defeat to Section V’s Webster Schroeder closed out this busy week, but it did mark the return of Wiggins to the pitcher’s circle and to the lineup.

Though she took the loss, Wiggins did pitch all the way through and, at the plate, got two of Liverpool’s three hits while driving in Frani with the team’s lone run.

C-NS’s confidence grew by what it did last Tuesday against Baldwinsville, keeping the Bees mired in a late-season slump as it prevailed by a score of 3-0.

Avenging an 8-3 defeat to B’ville on April 20, the Northstars were led by pitcher Lilian Hotaling, who limited the Bees to two hits and one walk, only striking out two but getting tremendous defense behind her.

Meanwhile, C-NS struck for a pair of first-inning runs then tacked on an insurance run in the sixth. Eva Farone, Sydney Rockwell and Celia Wood gained two hits apiece, with Paige Pangaro getting an RBI as Rockwell, Sydney Puttkamer and Tahlia Gerardi scored runs.

Even better was what the Northstars did Wednesday against West Genesee, scoring four runs in the second and fifth innings to help erase an early 2-0 deficit and eventually beating the Wildcats 13-6.

Rockwell and Aubrey Coyle led C-NS with four hits apiece as part of an 18-hit attack. Coyle doubled drove in three runs, with Rockwell matching Gerardi and Eva Farone as they each got two RBIs. Mia Farone scored twice, joining Pangaro, Isabella Moya and Paige Glassford driving in single runs.

But as WG was beating Liverpool, C-NS lost 6-0 to Auburn, held to two hits by pitcher Madison Lowe, who struck out nine as Elise Clifford doubled, tripled and drove in four of the Maroons’ six runs.