By CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
WELLSVILLE — Makenna Dunbar nearly captured perfection within the circle for the Lady Lions of Wellsville.
Despite a run scratching across in the top of the fifth inning off an error, along with a walk, the junior hurler still managed to freeze visiting Attica at the plate without a single hit to record the no-hit victory, adding it along with a massive day at the plate to ignite a 15-1 home win at historic Tullar Field on Tuesday.
All 15 of Wellsville’s (7-1) runs were accounted for in the first four innings of play to set the tone immediately, beginning with a 2-0 lead after the first and growing insurmountably in the following frame, as the Lady Lions glued together a massive seven-run stand that was powered by the bat of Dunbar and her three-run blast.
Dunbar would finish with a 2-for-4 outing of offense, scoring a double to go with her home run and posting four total RBI. On defense, she would then keep the fire ablaze with her arm, handing out 17 chairs from the circle, pairing it with just one walk to complete a magnificent no-hit performance.
The hosts in gray and orange would post a 16-hit barrage against the Lady Blue Devils, with Sawyer Burke helping conduct the orchestra at the plate with a 3-for-4 tenure consisting of a double and RBI. Brazen Beckwith also had two hits and drove in a pair.
Wellsville will play host to the Bloomfield Lady Bombers back at Tullar Field on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Attica 000 010 0 – 1 0 3
Wellsville 273 300 X – 15 16 1
Bolivar-Richburg 6, Genesee Valley/Belfast 2
RICHBURG — In the midst of a three-game, three-night spurt, the Lady Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg hopped back onto Stan Harris Field on Tuesday while being presented with an opportunity to leave an extra-inning defeat to the hands of Fillmore the previous night, way behind in the rearview mirror.
It would take a pitcher’s duel between Genesee Valley/Belfast’s Hannah Southwick-Powers and Lady Wolverines hurler Kylee Whiting, as the two dynamic aces combined to hand out a grand total of 21 strikeouts to keep the opposing offenses on their feet. From start to finish, a close battle erupted with the hosts in red and black laying claim to a one-run advantage they would continue to hold all game long.
Then, an inning of mass relief. The bats were resurrected.
With Genesee Valley/Belfast doing everything in their power to remain right on Bolivar-Richburg’s coattails down the homestretch, the Lady Wolverines would break the floodgates down with the bases loaded, freeing them all up on two colossal smacks at the plate to garner all the room they needed to cushion their lead insurmountably, bouncing back into the win column with a 6-2 home win.
The first three innings of play would see both teams remain at close distance with one another, with the Lady Wolverines (3-5) breaking the ice first off an RBI double from Sydney Faulkner. After a second inning that witnessed five strikeouts between both pitchers in the circle, each team would benefit off the strong defensive effort across the frame, with Genesee Valley/Belfast tying the game on a Sondra Guilford RBI single.
Bolivar-Richburg would then proceed to take the lead right back again with the inception of Cassidy Stives’ massive night at the plate, kicking it off with an RBI single of her own to aid in the 2-1 regaining of the advantage. Both pitchers then wheel and deal across the next two innings of play to prevent any more damage from coming across to set up a sixth inning that would turn the game completely upside down.
Following another phenomenal defensive stint in the top of the sixth, led by back-to-back strikeouts from Whiting, the Lady Wolverines syphoned the momentum to produce a four-run bottom half that stemmed off a bases-loaded situation to open the frame.
After back-to-back hits and a walk allowed all the bags behind the Genesee Valley/Belfast (5-3) to fill up, the hosts unloaded them all on the next two at-bats, with Whiting driving home one on a single, and then Stives posting a two-run single of her own just two at-bats later.
With a 6-1 lead in hand, it was now up to the defense to hold the fort down one more time.
In the top of the seventh, despite a run scoring on error for the visitors, the Lady Wolverines would do just that, collecting the final out at third base to keep Genesee Valley/Belfast still and pick up the rebounding victory.
The Lady Wolverines totaled six runs off eight hits on the attack, with Whiting and Stives finishing the night with two of them, including a triple for Whiting. On the mound, the eighth grader also handed out 10 chairs and walked four in her complete game five-hit gem.
For Genesee Valley/Belfast, despite the defeat, Hannah Southwick-Powers was outstanding once again inside the circle, striking out 11 and walking four in her complete game performance. The junior would also lead the bats, posting two of the team’s five in total. Rounding off, Sondra Guilford, Jenna Hill and Kate Calanni each had one.
The two foes will meet one more time in Belfast for their second meeting in four days, beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Beforehand, the Lady Wolverines will hit the road tonight and look to maintain all the victorious momentum they mustered, as they prepare to face the Cuba-Rushford Lady Rebels in a 5 p.m. first pitch, weather permitting.
Genesee Valley/Belfast 001 000 1 – 2 5 2
Bolivar-Richburg 101 004 X – 6 8 0
GVB – Hannah Southwick-Powers (LP) (CG, 11K, 4BB) and Jenna Hill.
B-R – Kylee Whiting (WP) (CG, 10K, 4BB) and Sydney Faulkner.
Cuba-Rushford 8, Fillmore 5
CUBA — Patience is a virtue. It was something that the Lady Rebels of Cuba-Rushford had to maintain not only on defense, but at the plate in addition. Despite visiting Fillmore breaking the game open with a powerful opening stand, the hosts in gray and blue continued to surf the wave down the stretch, inching as close as two runs.
Then, all of that patience would pay off with a fifth-inning jackpot.
Down 4-2, the offense for the Lady Rebels came alive in the biggest of ways with the bases jammed, as they proceeded to free up all of the occupied bags off two big swings of the bat from both Aubrey Williams and Sydney Howard. As a result, they put the finishing touches on a go-ahead, six-run momentum shifter to claim their first lead of the game and hung onto it until the end, scoring the 8-5 home victory over the Lady Eagles.
Before the late game explosion detonated for the Lady Rebels (3-4), Fillmore made their presence felt immediately out of the gate with a three-run opening stand to provide a massive crack into the ice first. The hosts however, would battle tooth and nail towards the supply of a response after four complete innings, scratching across a pair of unanswered markers to close their gap behind the Lady Eagles to just one.
Fillmore (4-6) would then deliver a punch right back to the Lady Rebels with a clutch fifth inning run to branch their lead back out to a pair. But Cuba-Rushford’s fourth inning run served as a prelude to what was brewing in the metaphorical coffee pot, as they loaded up the bases off back-to-back hits from Lizzie Kocsis and Jordyn Radomski to couple alongside a walk worked by Molly Kunz.
With a run coming in off a hit-by-pitch to tie the game, two titanic swings of the bat soon came after, as Aubrey Williams posted a two-run single, followed by Sydney Howard jamming an RBI double to the outfield to propel the Lady Rebels ahead once and for all with an 8-4 lead now firmly in their command, as they used their defense to keep the door shut, aside from one final run being scratched across in the top of the seventh.
The Lady Rebels totaled eight runs off eight hits at the plate, with Radomski’s three-hit outing leading the way, as she posted a triple and scored once. Williams would also finish with two hits.
On the mound, the win belonged to Radomski in relief, as she fanned four Fillmore batters.
As for the Lady Eagles, they posted five runs off 11 total hits, with Mattie McCumiskey’s 3-for-4 outing leading the charge, as she recorded a double and scored twice. Oakley Frazier chipped in two hits and scored an additional run.
In the circle, Mylee Miller went all seven innings, striking out five and walking four.
Both teams are back on the field again tonight, with the Lady Rebels playing host to Bolivar-Richburg in a 5 p.m. first pitch, while Fillmore’s road swing continues on to Andover for a 6 p.m. contest against Andover/Whitesville.
Fillmore 300 010 1 – 5 11 4
Cuba-Rushford 010 160 X – 8 8 1
FIL – Mylee Miller (LP) (CG, 5K, 4BB) and Oakley Frazier.
C-R – Lizzie Kocsis (3K, 2BB), Jordyn Radomski (WP, 5) (4K) and Arlah Shaffer.
