The Guilderland-Bethlehem softball rivalry took on an added dimension Friday at Clifton Common.
The neighboring schools battled each other for the Section II Class AA title. When the dust settled, Guilderland emerged as the champion with an 8-3 victory over Bethlehem.
It was Guilderland’s first Sectional title since 1998, but coach Lou Marino had some mixed feelings.
`I coach a lot of those (Bethlehem) girls in summer ball,` said Marino. `It’s hard, but I’m glad they were there and they were happy for us. It’s kind of a unique situation.`
`Besides the fact that we play them twice a season in league play, the girls know each other very well from playing together during the summer,` said Bethlehem coach Karen Gentile. `So you have to come up with something new when you meet in a game like this, and unfortunately it didn’t work out for us. Hats off to Guilderland. They played a great game … and they’re a great bunch of girls.`
Guilderland (14-7) took a quick 2-0 lead on Bethlehem (13-8) in the first inning. Tori Greco smacked a leadoff single and scored on Gabriella Marino’s double to center field. Mikayla Shade made a lunging catch to deny Mallory Harrigan a double, but she couldn’t reach Jenna Cubello’s drive, which drove in Marino for the second Lady Dutch run.
Bethlehem sophomore pitcher Emma Downing settled down after the early flurry, but things fell apart for her in the bottom of the third inning. Following consecutive singles by Greco, Marino and Harrigan, Cubello drove all three runners on a single and an error to give Guilderland a 5-0 lead.
Gentile replaced Downing with Megan Sullivan, who allowed Cubello to score on a groundout by Abi Peck. But Sullivan got out of the inning without further damage.
`They hit her very well,` Gentile said of Downing, who pitched in Bethlehem’s playoff wins over Niskayuna and Shenendehowa. `Emma was our pitcher in Sectionals, and we went with the hot hand. It didn’t happen for her in that game.`
`Emma is a young pitcher,` said Marino, who coaches Downing in summer softball. `She’s a nice kid and does a nice job, but she doesn’t have a lot of big game experience.`
Guilderland struck for another run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Lady Dutch might have had more were it not for a big play by Shade. With one out and Marino on second base following an RBI single, Harrigan launched another deep drive to center field. Shade ran back and caught the ball as her face hit the fence. As Gentile ran on to the field to check on Shade and Marino hesitated before making a bid for third base, Shade tossed the ball in to start an 8-7-6-5 double play that got Marino out.
`It was one of those weird instinctual things,` said Gentile of her move onto the field before the play ended. `I thought she had cut herself badly.`
Not only did Shade stay in the game, but she also singled to lead off the top of the fifth inning. Erin O’Donnell followed with a double, and they both came home on Addison Myers’ single for the Lady Eagles’ first two runs. Genevieve Paeglow added an RBI single to cut Guilderland’s lead to 7-3.
`It was amazing that she (Shade) made that play, and then she came back the next inning and got that single,` said Gentile.
Guilderland pitcher Taylor Tewksbury worked her way out of the fifth inning without further damage and shut out Bethlehem over the next two frames to earn the complete-game victory.
`I knew that (Shade catch and double play) was going to give them some energy, and I knew we would have to weather the storm,` said Marino. `I just knew if we got out of that inning, we would be fine.`
Guilderland advances to Tuesday’s regional final against Section III power Cicero-North Syracuse at Gillette Field.
`They have a pitcher who throws hard and can hit the ball well,` said Marino of Cicero-North Syracuse, which reached last year’s state finals. `They have five slap hitters, so we’re going to have to defend that.`
Meanwhile, Gentile said she appreciates the way her Bethlehem players managed to get to the Sectional finals for the third time in the last four years.
`I think we were the only people who thought we were capable of going as far as we did,` said Gentile of her team, which featured several first-year starters. `It was an honor to be there, and we were pleased with our performance in Sectionals overall.`