MALTA — Colonie is a tough No. 4 seed and they proved that on Thursday, May 30 by beating No. 1 seed Shen 4-3 and will play Bethlehem in the Section II Class AA finals.
Colonie used the long ball to get by Shen at the Luther Forest softball diamonds with Myaisha Kelly hitting a two-run line shot over the left center fence in the first inning and Chloe VanBuren with a two-run home run in the fourth to give the Garnett Raiders a 4-0 advantage.
Kelly, a team leader at third base, added another hit for a 2 for 3 night.
Shen came back in the fourth on a two-run homer by Sofia Caputo and added another run in the same inning to pull within one but Colonie made some stellar plays on defense to shut down any Shen threat.
Centerfielder Cianna Phillips made an over-the-shoulder catch at the fence to end the game.
Carly Gemmet threw all seven innings for Colonie, giving up three runs on five hits while striking out three. Marianna Abate and Ava Caputo gave up four runs on four hits while striking out nine for Shen.
In the first round, Colonie beat cross-town rival No. 5 seed Shaker 2-1 in the for the right to play Shen.
Colonie beat Bethlehem twice during the regular season, once 2-0 and then 10-2.
Colonie will play Bethlehem, the No. 3 seed who upset No. 2 seed Columbia, at the Luther Forest softball diamonds on Tuesday, June 4 at 5 p.m.
Click on a photo below to view a slideshow of the rest.
