RICHFIELD SPRINGS — The rain finally subsided long enough for the Richfield Springs baseball team to play in its first game in over a week early last Friday evening, and the end result was finally a positive one: a 6-4 defeat of visiting Morrisville-Eaton that improved the Indians’ record to 6-7-1 overall, a mark that should be good enough to garner their acceptance into the Section III Class D playoffs regardless of what they may or may not still have left on the regular-season table. Junior right-hander Dave Southard was his dominant self on the mound through the first six innings of action before unraveling a bit and giving way to senior Kyle Richards with one out in the top of the seventh. Southard ended up allowing three earned runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings, with four walks and nine strikeouts, but two of the walks and three of the hits transpired in succession to lead off the seventh. The unlikely turn of events trimmed Richfield’s lead from a comfortable 6-1 margin to an unstable 6-4 advantage with a runner on first and still just one out. That’s when Richards relieved Southard on the mound, and after a wild pitch advanced the Morrisville-Eaton baserunner to second, a rare 3-6 double play only a couple of pitches later ended it. “We made some mental and physical errors out there, but we played through it,” said second-year Indians’ manager Chris Furnare. “We haven’t played since last Wednesday (a span of nine days), and that certainly contributed to it. But Dave (Southard) pitched a good game and Kyle (Richards) came in and finished it.” And certainly not to be forgotten in the mix is how the Indians started it. Trailing the last-place Warriors 1-0 going into the bottom of the third, leadoff hitter Nick Sovocool put the fat part of the bat on the ball and sent it sailing over the left-field fence for his first career home run, a blast that was so unlikely even Sovocool himself didn’t realize it was gone until the look of astonishment on his face finally molded with the slower trot of his legs as he rounded second base. The celebratory event in a way sort of woke up the rest of the sleep-walking hosts, as teammate Jake Sawicki (who finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate) later added an RBI single in the inning for a 2-1 lead. Ryan Wratten then produced a two-out, two-run single one inning later in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-1 advantage, Greer followed with two-out RBI single in the fifth, before an error allowed the Indians to score their sixth and final run of the game during their last at-bats in the bottom of the sixth. Other than Sawicki’s three-hit performance, other multi-hitters for Richfield Springs in the win included Greer (2-for-3 with two singles and an RBI), Southard (2-for-4 with two singles) and Sovocool (2-for-4 with that solo home run and a single). (Friday, May 19) M-E 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 — 4 6 6 RS 0 0 2 2 1 1 X — 6 12 3 Kris Edwards and Kenny Mennig; Dave Southard, Kyle Richards (7) and Kevin Cooper. WP - Southard, LP - Edwards, S - Richards. 2B - (M-E) Ryan Edwards. HR - (RS) Nick Sovocool. Records: Morrisville-Eaton (0-9, 3-17); Richfield Springs (4-5, 6-7-1). (Saturday, May 20) RS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 2 Ham 0 0 0 0 0 2 X — 2 5 1 Dan Greer and Kevin Cooper; Eric Dowsland Kyle Mason. WP - Dowsland (5-2), LP - Greer. 2B - (Ham) Greg Waldman. Records: Richfield Springs (4-6, 6-8-1); Hamilton (8-2, 12-5). CV-S falls to rival Edmeston CHERRY VALLEY — Cherry Valley-Springfield’s baseball team had its 10-game winning streak snapped with a 4-2 loss to visiting Edmeston in the regular-season finale last Friday. Matt Laymon struck out 13 batters in the win for the defending state champion Panthers, who scored three unearned runs in the third inning on a bases-loaded walk, a passed ball and an error. Steve Herringshaw struck out nine batters on the mound for CV-S before being relieved in the sixth by Ben Halay. Herringshaw was also 2-for-2 at the plate with one run scored and a double, while junior catcher Mathias Vanderwerker added an RBI double that scored teammate Jeremy Hoag. “It was a close game that was played with a lot of intensity,” said Cherry Valley-Springfield manager Ed Dubben. “I just wish we were on the winning end, but that one inning hurt us a bit.” The Tri-Valley League East Division champion Patriots (10-1, 12-3) and the T-VL West Division champion Panthers (10-1, 15-2) will meet for a third straight time in the T-VL championship game this Monday at Oneonta State College. The Section IV Class D playoffs are scheduled to begin this Thursday, with Cherry Valley-Springfield expected to be a top-five seed. (Friday, May 19) Edm 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 -- 4 7 0 CV-S 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 -- 2 5 2 Matt Laymon and Justin Plows; Steve Herringshaw, Ben Halay (6) and Mathias Vanderwerker. WP - Laymon, LP - Herringshaw (2-1). 2B - (CV-S) Vanderwerker, Herringshaw. Records: Edmeston (10-1, 15-2); Cherry Valley-Springfield (10-1, 12-3). Mustangs miss sectionals (Tuesday, May 16) MM 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -- 1 5 1 Can 0 0 1 1 1 0 X -- 3 7 5 Steve Casale and Kevin Lynk; Kyle Savage and Mike Hibbard. WP - Savage, LP - Casale. 2B - (MM) Casale; (Can) Savage 2. 3B - (MM) Justin Deming. Records: Mount Markham (3-6, 4-9); Canastota (7-2, 10-6). (Wednesday, May 17) WCV 0 0 0 7 3 1 2 -- 13 15 1 MM 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 -- 4 6 5 Brett Fulmer and Jeff Yaworski; Bobby Spicer, Jeff Ratcliff (4) and Joe Orsino. WP - Fulmer, LP - Spicer. 2B - (WCV) Yaworski, Fulmer, Robert McKerrow, Bill Smith; (MM) Kevin Lynk 2, Justin Deming. Records: Mount Markham (3-6, 4-10). (Friday, May 19) MM 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 -- 2 7 2 Wville 0 2 0 0 3 1 X -- 6 8 1 Justin Deming and Joe Orsino; Justin Homer and Josh Orsino. WP - Homer (2-3), LP - Deming. 2B - (Wville) Stan Zombek. Records: Mount Markham (3-7, 4-11); Waterville (2-7, 4-9). |