By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — The Allegany-Limestone softball team, after suffering its first defeat of the season in its last game, needed a bounce-back performance.
And a superb day in the circle, at the plate and in the field which led to a 13-0, six-inning win over Salamanca did just the trick.
Through seven games on the season, the Gators had not tasted defeat, that all changed when they conceded a come-from-behind loss to Olean on April 25. After the fact, coach Kaelyn Arnold noted her side just made too many mistakes in critical moments which resulted in a game that the Gators had under control early, being flipped on its head.
Against the Warriors, Arnold was able to tell her team made the adjustments in the wake of its first setback.
“They really battled, especially from the last game that we just had against Olean, it was what we needed to see,” Arnold said. “Everybody was hitting, we played good defense. It’s exactly what we asked for today.”
And where it all started for A-L was in the circle. Kailey Truman, who had been a solid, consistent force for the Gators early in the season, had some struggles in recent games, but much to the delight of Arnold, she found her zone after some early missteps and racked up 15 strikeouts by the time everything was said and done, allowing just four walks and four hits in that time as well.
“The first couple of innings, she struggled, we walked a few batters and we gave them some opportunities,” Arnold said. “But luckily, we shut it down and didn’t let anybody score today.”
And as Truman went, so too did the A-L offense which scored its 13 runs on the night on 15 hits. Taylor Foster, who Arnold has praised as a player that has really improved as the season has progressed, led the hosts with a 3-for-4 performance that included two runs and three RBI. Also having a great day at the plate was Abby Peck, who finished 3-for-3 with a run and two RBI.
Kennedy Honeck (2-for-2, four runs, RBI), Kendall Lemon (2-for-4, two runs, RBI) and Madison Kahm (2-for-4, run, two RBI) each provided significant amounts of offense in the win as well.
“I’m very happy, they stayed up and they were up the whole game, which was kind of a difference from what we saw last week,” Arnold said of her team’s offense.
Allegany-Limestone’s Abby Peck (7) fouls off a pitch. (Spencer Bates)
And of the 13 runs her team did score, seven came across in the bottom of the second frame, a half-inning Salamanca will want to soon forget as fielding and throwing errors only compounded the damage A-L was able to do.
But after that frame, there were some bright spots for the Warriors as they held their hosts to just one run over the next three innings. And it was how his team played over those middle innings that Salamanca coach Paul Furlong emphasized is how he needs them to play from the start.
“We didn’t come to play early,” Furlong said. “Once we got down 9-0, we played four innings right with them. We got to learn how to play with pressure. When it was a 0-0, 1-0 game, we played tight and we couldn’t figure out how to get outs. We got down 9-0 and we just kind of said, ‘Oh, OK, let’s go play.’ We got to change that if we want to be better.”
But the defense was only one part of the equation that went wrong for Salamanca, as its offense connected for just four hits — two of which came from Charli Ross. And according to Furlong, he was surprised by the hesitancy that he saw from his batters.
“Usually we don’t wait around,” Furlong said. “I think the lefty pitcher, she’s got a little sneakiness and the ball breaks a little different coming from the left side. So I think we were having trouble seeing the ball. … But their team, they play the same way, all the way. They’re never too high, they’re not real low. They just play softball. We’ve got to learn how to play with a little bit of pressure. … We did some OK things. But I think it’s just our lack of softball maturity.”
Salamanca’s Charli Ross winds up a pitch against Allegany-Limestone. Ross struck out three batters and was the only Warrior to record multiple hits against the Gators. (Spencer Bates)
Ultimately, Furlong said that it came down to his team just seeing far too many would-be outs get past them. Mistakes that lead to big deficits and mountains to climb as opposed to hurdles. And it is there where he noted the improvement needs to start.
“We gave them six or seven outs and you can’t shut that team down giving them six outs, you can’t shut any team down giving them six or seven outs,” Furlong said. “That’s where we’ve been all year. We get one out, (but then) we compound it with a throwing error, a fielding error, we misjudge a fly ball. Next thing you know, we’ve given up four or five runs. I think we’re better than that, I really do. At some point we got to show it though.”
For Arnold, she once again highlighted the resilience she saw in her team. The first loss of a season coming so deep into the schedule can be a difficult one to climb back from, but for her Gators, they made sure the possible mountain of strife ahead of them was equal to a molehill.
“We’re very resilient, and I’ll give them that,” Arnold said. “They knew what we needed to do today. They knew what we needed to clean up, and they did that.”
Allegany-Limestone will look to stay in the win column in their next game, a home affair against Jamestown on May 2 at 5:30 p.m.
As for Salamanca, it remains in search of its first CCAA Div. I win this season. Its next opportunity to accomplish that task will come on April 30 when they are set to play host to Jamestown in the first game on the Warriors’ new turf softball field.
AT ALLEGANY
Salamanca 000 000 X 0 4 1
Allegany-Limestone 170 104 X 13 15 0
Sala: Ross (3 SO, 4 BB) and BacelliA-L: K. Truman (15 SO, 4 BB) and P. Truman
