Monday Finals: Lady Lions tally nine-run 6th to capture 1st Class B2 title since 2003 with 12-2 win over No. 4 Way-Co; B-R survives shootout with No. 1 Lyndonville to seize Class C2 title

Written By Chris Brooks

WELLSVILLE — It’s been a moment in time that the Wellsville softball program has not bared witness to in nearly 20 years. To rewind the tape a little bit, it was the first season in the post-Frank Cady era under then first-year head coach John Baldwin, that the Lady Lions last hoisted the championship brick in all of its glory.

This season, in perhaps one of their more dominating displays of softball to date, the Lady Lions were seeded third out of the top four teams remaining in the Class B2 chase. LeRoy was one, Williamson was two, and Wayland-Cohocton was four. In the midst of all the scenarios that could fall into place, an opportunity arose.

There was a chance through it all that the team could potentially host the Class B2 Finals in front of their home crowd on the very last day of the season. Only two things had to happen to ensure that — a win over State-ranked Williamson, and a Wayland-Cohocton victory over the top seeds in LeRoy.

When the weekend was over, that exact outcome came to fruition, and on Monday at Tullar Field, the script for Wellsville’s fairytale season could not have been prepared any more perfectly.

It all came down in front of a jam-packed crowd surrounding the historic softball field. Fans from both communities lining the baseline fences, filling the bleachers, filling the far outfield fence with vehicles, and even the baseball team showcasing their support from right field. Everyone in attendance bared witness to the season-ending spectacle that was put on display between the Lady Eagles of Wayland-Cohocton, and the Lady Lions.

As the game progressed on, it was clear that there were high amounts of electricity traveling concurrently between both sides of the field, and a wealth of emotion between both dugouts. Wayland-Cohocton and Wellsville would indeed give it all they had. But a question at the end of the night required an answer — who wanted it more?

In the early stages of the game, the Lady Eagles and Lady Lions engaged in back-and-forth swings not only on offense, but in the later innings as well, on defense. Barbs were traded, left and right before the defenses began to take over the show to close out the game, with the Lady Lions holding a one-run lead over Way-Co.

If there was ever a point in time to create an opening, the inning right before Wayland-Cohocton’s final at-bats was it.

After some rumblings resonated into the sixth inning, the avalanche soon followed.

It all started with a massive ground ball to the left side by Carly Young, who used a big jolt of speed to reach first to score a big piece of insurance to branch the Wellsville lead to a pair. The flurry of runs continued to fall one after another until their was no more to scratch across, as the Lady Lions scored a humongous nine-run sixth inning with the majority of the runs coming with two outs on the board to zoom their way toward victory to complete a fairytale story that will be told time and time again, with the first Class B2 title under Burke, and the program’s first title in 18 years behind a 12-2 rout of No. 4 Wayland-Cohocton to close shop on the 2021 season.

“I am unbelievable humbled to be around such an amazing group of young ladies, our coaching staff, and the community. It’s been an amazing season, and I am so thankful. It’s surreal,” said Burke. “The crowd tonight was electric, and that was unreal to see that much energy and positivity. This is probably another thing that will go down in history as well. How many teams get to host their own Sectional Finals game, and win it all at home. It’s a great night for Wellsville softball, and it’s a great night for the Wellsville community.”

It was safe to say that the momentum the Lady Lions (21-1) had built from their Semifinal contest over the weekend against State-ranked Williamson, carried over to help build a bundle of confidence heading into the final dance. Burke said his team had the confidence to go out and did what they have done best all season long to persevere in the end.

“I think there was momentum, our girls came into this game confident,” he said. “They weren’t overconfident, but they were confident in coming out and playing a really good game. If we were going to lose, the other team was going to have to beat us. We were not going to beat ourselves with mistakes. I’m just so proud of our girls on how they played but also, how they conducted themselves as players, and they kept themselves under control. That was the result tonight. We played a solid game all the way through.”

To get to the winner’s circle in the end, the Lady Lions had to battle through some smallball tactics provided by Wayland-Cohocton during their first at-bats of the game, which resulted in an early 1-0 lead for the four seeds off a Brooke Lander bunt to bring home the awaiting run from third to do so. But it didn’t take long after the Lady Lions got off the field to provide a response, doubling up Wayland-Cohocton’s offerings with a pair of runs in the bottom half.

Mallory Sibble would kick it off with a big drive to left field that would skip past the Lady Eagles outfielder and underneath the fence for a ground-rule double. On the next at-bat, Matti Burke provided the stick to trade places with her at second off an RBI double back out to left field to tie the game at one. Maddie Spicer then provided a double of her own to score Burke to propel Wellsville into the lead with only just one out on the board.

But the Lady Eagles would find their way off the field with a Huber strikeout, and dynamic catch by Julia Zastawrny at short to end the stand.

Wayland-Cohocton would find their way back into the game with a second inning deadlock, as Nora Schubmehl responded with an infield hit which saw her use her speed to her advantage to reach before the throw from Marley Adams at second made it to Lauren Cicirello at first to record the out, which scored a run in the process off the RBI single to tie it back up at two.

After a Makenzie Cowburn strikeout and then a fielded grounder by the Lady Lions pitcher, Wellsville broke the deadlock with a go-ahead run in the bottom half of the second, with Sibble providing another poke into right center field that drops in. Carly Young was waved around to score to give the Lady Lions the lead, but the end of the inning was reached when Sibble was tagged out at second base on her advance toward the bag.

From that point forward, the defensive battle settled in.

Both Wayland-Cohocton and Wellsville would go on to exchange three consecutive shutout innings, but not before the Lady Eagles built some pressure in the fifth inning with a big two-out double down the left field line off the bat of Hannah Fairbrother. But that threat was immediately cleansed with a Marley Adams tag out off a grounder next to the first baseline chalk to end the stand.

But in the sixth, the Lady Lions had the pressure that would soon overload past full capacity in the bottom of the sixth, as they recorded a powershifting nine-run frame, with the bulk of the runs being scored with two outs on the board. After Young became the first to add a piece of insurance off her infield single, Wellsville would go through their entire lineup once within the inning to bring their runs across. Among the bats, a pair of two-run singles from the bats of Burke and Spicer after the bases were loaded up.

What was a one-run lead at the start of the sixth, became a lead that ensured history being rewritten in the Lady Lions archives. The team would finish off their Class B2 Championship title victory with just four Wayland-Cohocton batters reaching the plate. After one reached with two outs, Cowburn did what she does best all season long for the Lady Lions — provide one of the biggest strikeouts of the season at the very end to complete a storybook campaign.

A season that Burke and the Lady Lions did not take for granted.

“To start the season was pretty cool, because we were actually playing. As the season went on, we were just thankful that we had every game to play, because we didn’t take games for granted with COVID,” he said. “As we got closer to the postseason, our kids started to get dialed in, and we ended up playing our best softball at the end of the year.”

In all, the Lady Lions accounted for 12 runs off 16 total hits on offense, with three different hitters recording a trio to lead the way. Among them, Sibble, Burke and Emma Dunaway, who helped the cause in the team’s massive sixth inning with a two-run single of her own. Spicer would conclude the day with two doubles. In the circle, Cowburn closed out her final start of the season with seven strikeouts.

“Makenzie's work ethic shows day in and day out, but when it comes to a big game such as this, her composure is what made the difference,” Burke said. “She is certainly physically gifted, but her mindset and her composure is what puts her on top and allows us to win big softball games. We have good hitters all through our lineup, and that's what we do. They kept putting good swings on the bat since inning one, and they started to hit some holes. We got runners on base, and we took advantage of it.”

As the sixth-year head coach looked back on a season that saw them go 21-1 overall — their most successful and dominant season to date that also saw them break a mass of team records ranging from hits, batting average and doubles, one thing he noticed that stood out the most with his group — the chemistry that molded them together.

“The team chemistry with this team is amazing,” Burke said. “These girls truly care about each other, and I preach about being a good teammate, and every single one of these kids bought into it. They truly root for each other, and it’s just so special to see when I remember this 15 years from now, now special the times were at practice, with bus rides, the kids getting along and dancing to the songs in between innings. I’m so humbled to be the coach, and I’m so thankful to be a part of this Wellsville softball community.”

Burke also delivered a dedication of their team’s Championship-clinching victory to all the program’s past and present that have helped lay down the foundation to what became a titanic season on the field.

“I’ve been coaching this team since 2015, and we’ve been close a couple of times. This win is for all of the Wellsville softball alumni,” he said. “We’ve had so many good players come through this program, so many good parents, so much support from our community. It’s been awesome, and our athletic director Erica Aftuck has been amazing. She has really advocated for us and has really spearheaded Wellsville softball as well.”

The Lady Lions season has officially come to a close, as the team will now prepare to graduate five seniors in just two week’s time — Burke, Sibble, Spicer, Cicirello, and Young.

Wayland-Cohocton 110 000 0 – 2 9 0

Wellsville 210 009 X – 12 16 1

W-C – Greta Huber (LP) (CG, 4K, 2BB), and Hannah Fairbrother.

WLSV – Makenzie Cowburn (WP) (CG, 7K), and Matti Burke.

LADY WOLVERINES BACK ON TOP

Class C2 Finals

No. 3 Bolivar-Richburg 9, No. 1 Lyndonville 7

LYNDONVILLE — It was clear that coming down the homestretch and entering the Sectional Tournament, the Lady Wolverines of Bolivar-Richburg were on the hunt. Having won five of their last six games before starting the Class C2 Tournament at home, the mindset of going for it all began to settle in.

One after another, the Lady Wolverines weaved their way through the competition, with the offense providing all of the firepower and the defense locking down the opposition on the field. In their first three Sectional contests, they have outscored the opponent, 39-4 with wins over No. 14 Pavilion, No. 6 Caledonia-Mumford and No. 2 Dundee/Bradford.

That allowed the team to reach a stage the program has not seen in six years — the Class C2 Finals. In order to pull off a vision that they had their eyes on since day one, Bolivar-Richburg would have to hurdle past top-seeded Lyndonville — the same Lady Tigers squad that knocked them out in the 2019 Sectional Tournament, to do so.

And it would have to come by locking horns with the top seeds all the way to the end.

Runs were being exchanged right from the start in the first three innings of play, with Bolivar-Richburg winding up with a 5-4 lead heading into the back half of the game. Looking to continue to build onto their lead, the Lady Tigers began to dig their way out of the hole that the Lady Wolverines created.

When the top of the seventh came around, Jianna Nix made sure Lyndonville was kept in the rearview mirror.

Leading off the top half of the final at-bats for the Lady Wolverines, Nix made sure her last at-bat was a memorable one, as she launched on the very first pitch of her outing, a massive shot into center field that never left orbit, going down as a lead-off solo shot to provide a massive piece of insurance that kept the team in front for good, as the defense put a bow on the team’s first Class C2 title in six years with a 9-7 victory in a shootout over No. 1 Lyndonville.

“I am so proud of the hard work the girls have put in this season,” Lady Wolverines coach Brooke Lovell said. “They have had this goal in mind since the beginning of the season, and they did exactly what they needed to do to make it happen for themselves. We had some ups and downs, but these girls continued to do their absolute best. I can’t stress enough how proud of them I am.”

The Class C2 title is the first for the Lady Wolverines since the 2015 season, which happened to be the final season in the dugout for legendary head coach Stan Harris. It also marks the first title for Lovell in her very first official season as head coach of the Lady Wolverines. As for how they got the job done? They would have to survive a duel with the Lady Tigers.

Lyndonville would garner the early 2-1 lead in the first inning, with Bolivar-Richburg (16-3) breaking the ice on Jessica Majot’s two-out RBI double which scored Madigan Harris. The Lady Wolverines would record three big runs in the top half of the second to take the lead away from the Lady Tigers with two of their three runs coming with two outs, as Gracie Zilker and Kayli Giardini helped deliver back-to-back RBI singles to propel the three-seeds forward with a 4-2 lead.

But it was a lead that was short lived as Lyndonville found a quick response to tie the game once again with an RBI triple doing the honors to close out the second inning, tied at four.

Giardini would go on to post her second consecutive RBI single in the top of the third to give Bolivar-Richburg the lead right back again with two outs on the board. From that point, three unanswered runs would be scored to give the visitors in gray and red an advantage that would grow to as large as four, with Majot giving the Lady Wolverines a 5-4 lead off her sacrifice fly to the outfield which scored a run.

After a rapid 1-2-3 at the plate in the fifth, they went back to work in the sixth with two more runs coming across, both being credited to Madigan Harris after reaching base on error by the Lyndonville defense. It was an 8-4 lead built by the Lady Wolverines, but the Lady Tigers fought their way back into the game with three massive runs in the bottom half of the sixth to turn the heat up off three separate RBI hits from the top of the order.

With just a one-run lead in hand, Bolivar-Richburg sought the devastating blow. That came from the bat of Nix, who led off the seventh inning and the team’s final at-bats on offense with an absolute bang, pulverizing a deep shot to center field that left the field in a hurry to give the Lady Wolverines just enough room to breathe with a two-run lead.

The team would finish off their Class C2 title victory with an unbelievable play on defense from Kelsey Pacer, who fielded a play on her side of the field. With the ball firmly within her glove, she sprinted toward the bag and dove across with an extension, touching the bag to beat out the Lyndonville runner with two outs to end the game, fulfilling the destiny of the Lady Wolverines with their first softball title in six seasons.

Lovell said Nix’s home run was an unreal sight to behold.

“The difference maker was the top of the seventh,” she said. “We were up only one, and then Jianna hit that home run. We had just talked in our huddle about how one run wasn’t enough of a cushion to have. She was the lead-off batter in the inning, and she absolutely crushed the first pitch she saw well over the center field fence. It was unreal, and that was a perfect way to finish her junior season.”

The Lady Wolverines totaled nine runs off 14 total hits at the plate, with Giardini leading all batters with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, and two runs scored. Nix and Majot followed with two hits each, with Nix adding a double, while Malayna Ayers chipped in with a double of her own. In the circle, Majot picked up the team’s final win of the season behind four strikeouts and a walk.

Looking back, Lovell said what stood out most about her Lady Wolverines, who finished a outstanding first season under her guidance with a 16-3 record, an Allegany County Division I Championship and her first Class C2 Championship, she said that the team’s hunger for winning was second to none.

“The will to win and to excel in everything that the girls can do,” she said. “They never took no for an answer. Ever. Even at times in the season when we weren’t really playing our best, they found a way to win each time. Tonight, this ranks at the top of my list for softball moments. I am just so proud of all the girls, and I need to thank all of the coaches that they had before I came along. They all played a part in this all coming together too.”

Bolivar-Richburg’s season has officially closed up on the brightest of notes, as the team now awaits Graduation in a couple of week’s time, bidding farewell to just three seniors — Pacer, Zilker and Trinidy Miller.

Bolivar-Richburg 131 102 1 – 9 14 0

Lyndonville 220 003 0 – 7 10 4

B-R – Jessica Majot (WP) (CG, 4K, BB), and Madigan Harris.

LYN – Haley Shaffer (LP) (CG, 4K), and Chloe Stinson.

Chris Brooks
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Saturday Sectionals: Top-seeded Lady Golden Eagles survive smallball battle with No. 5 Avo/Pra, will host D2 Finals after narrow 3-2 victory; Wellsville, B-R softball also advance to Finals