PORTVILLE, NY — The Portville baseball team could not have asked for a better start to the year, walking off Maple Grove 4-3 in its season-opener.
Going into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Panthers were staring at a 3-1 deficit and had just two hits to their name. But, an Aidan DeFazio single that scored Peyton Carter shaved that deficit to one in the bottom of the fifth.
Crucially, Portville was able to keep Maple Grove off the scoreboard over the remaining two innings in commanding fashion, recording six outs on six batters faced, including five strikeouts from relief pitcher Liam Taylor.
But of course, there was still work for the offense to do. The Panthers got the benefit of two defensive errors in the bottom of the seventh from the Red Dragons and, coming up to the plate with two outs on the board, Taylor provided the final blow with a two-RBI single that scored both DeFazio and Kosinski to win the game.
AT PORTVILLE
Maple Grove 001 020 0 3 6 4
Portville 000 110 2 4 6 2
Maple Grove: Dahlberg (3 SO, 2 BB), Bryant (1SO, 0 BB), Garret (2 SO, 0 BB) and Padd
Portville: Kosinski (7 SO, 1 BB), Taylor (5 SO, 0 BB) and Chudy
CSAT 11, Salamanca 1 (5 innings)
SALAMANCA, NY — After falling behind seven runs in the first two innings, the Salamanca baseball team was handed a five-inning defeat at the hands of CSAT.
Payton Bradley recorded the only two hits of the game for the Warriors and was responsible for the team’s lone run.
AT SALAMANCA
CSAT 340 13X X 11 6 1
Salamanca 000 01X X 1 2 2
CSAT: Brundidge (10 SO, 3 BB) and Rodriguez
Salamanca: Bradley (1 SO, 7 BB), Baxter-Drain (1 SO, 4 BB), Seeley (1 SO, 0 BB), Bartoszek (1 SO, 2 BB), Milks (1 SO, 0 BB) and catcher
Allegany-Limestone 8, CSP 6
ALLEGANY, NY — The Allegany-Limestone baseball team bounced back after giving up a lead-off home run to CSP, taking advantage at the plate with solid decision-making.
The Wolfpack may have jumped on the board first, but the Gators, led by Tayden Margeson’s one hit and two RBIs and Bronx Foster’s one hit and one RBI, drew 13 walks from the CSP pitchers.
A-L’s Isaiah Fisher struck out six batters on the night.
HS SOFTBALL
Johnsonburg 15, Bradford 13
JOHNSONBURG, PA — Despite shooting ahead to a 9-1 start in its season-opener, the Bradford softball team fell to Johnsonburg.
Between the fourth and sixth innings, Johnsonburg brought across 14 runs, erasing the early damage done early by the Owls.
Brooklyn Morey and Daisy Greene led Bradford with two hits apiece. Jackie Sipko was responsible for three runs.
AT JOHNSONBURG
Bradford 180 012 1 13 8 5
Johnsonburg 101 625 X 15 13 2
Bradford: Greene (4 SO, 4 BB) and Sipko
Johnsonburg: Beimel (4 SO, 4 BB), Peterson (0 SO, 3 BB) and Lawrie
Allegany-Limestone 4, Ellicottville 2
ALLEGANY, NY — Whenever Ellicottville found some success offensively, Allegany-Limestone was able to come up with the answer.
The Eagles scored the first run of the game in the top of the first, but the Gators pulled right back to level pegging with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.
In the top of the third, Ellicottville pulled ahead by one yet again, but at the second time of asking, A-L responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning, which was enough to secure the win.
Kendall Lemon recorded two hits for the Gators while Kailey Truman struck out 10 batters on the night.
AT ALLEGANY
Ellicottville 101 000 0 2 2 2
Allegany-Limestone 103 000 X 4 5 0
Ellicottville: Lafferty (12 SO, 3 BB) and Whitmer
Allegany-Limestone: K. Truman (10 SO, 4 BB) and P. Truman
Salamanca 13, Cattaraugus-Little Valley 11
SALAMANCA, NY — The Salamanca softball team survived a late scare from Cattaraugus-Little Valley, securing victory in its high-scoring season-opener.
While the Timberwolves put up 11 runs between fourth and sixth innings, all that was able to do was match the 11 runs that the Warriors racked up over the course of the first three frames of the game.
The two runs the Warriors managed to score in the bottom of the fifth made all the difference as they got their season off to a 1-0 start.
