Poland, Oriskany advance to play for Section III's Class D softball crown

Times Telegram
·4 min read

The weather put semifinals in two of Section III’s five softball classes on hold Saturday, but Poland and Oriskany were among the six teams that secured spots the tournament finals this week at Carrier Park in greater Syracuse.

Poland defeated Hamilton 24-5 in one Class D semifinal at Oneida High School and Oriskany, a third team from Division III of the Center State Conference defeated Brookfield 4-2 in the other.

Marcellus and Altmar-Parish-Williamstown won the Class B semifinals at Herkimer College while Liverpool and Baldwinsville won the Class AA semifinals.

The semifinals for classes A – New Hartford vs. Jamesville-DeWitt and Camden vs. Auburn – and C – West Canada Valley vs. Utica-Notre Dame and Pulaski vs. Sandy Creek – were rescheduled for Sunday at Onondaga Community College, with Class A playing first. The championship games for classes A and C are scheduled for Wednesday along with Class AA, while classes B and D play Tuesday at the two-field complex.

Logan Cookinham, pictured awaiting a pitch with her Poland teammates looking on at Mudville in April, drove in seven runs Saturday and helped the Tornadoes beat Hamilton to earn a return trip to Section III's Class D softball final.
Logan Cookinham, pictured awaiting a pitch with her Poland teammates looking on at Mudville in April, drove in seven runs Saturday and helped the Tornadoes beat Hamilton to earn a return trip to Section III's Class D softball final.

Class D

Poland’s Tornadoes and Oriskany’s Redskins will meet for the third time this season in Tuesday’s championship game.

Poland will be returning to the sectional finals after hosting last year’s game against Bishop Ludden of Syracuse under a unique pandemic playoff format; Bishop Ludden won that game 11-8.

More: Bishop Ludden makes more memories by beating Poland for softball title on graduation day

This year, the Tornadoes (13-8) are seeded fourth while the Redskins (16-3) are seeded second. They split decisions during the regular season with each winning on its home field, Poland 14-11 in April and Oriskany 5-1 May 21.

Poland pounded 15 hits and drew 15 walks against Hamilton, another team the Tornadoes had split decisions against during the regular season. Logan Cookinham had four hits and seven runs batted in Saturday, Sarah Zuchowski scored five runs, and Maddison Haver and pitcher Shelbi Hagues each crossed the plate four times.

Eighth-seeded Hamilton (15-6), coming off a 10-7 win over No. 1 Stockbridge Valley Thursday, took a 4-2 lead with three runs in the top of the third Saturday before Poland scored nine in the bottom of the inning. Poland later scored 11 runs in the sixth.

Poland has scored at least 15 runs seven times this season.

The Poland girls were sectional soccer champions and state finalists in the fall and sectional basketball finalists in the winter.

Oriskany and No. 3 Brookfield (12-5) went scoreless until Oriskany put up five runs in the fifth inning Saturday and the Redskins never trailed. Brook Mays had two hits and scored two runs for Oriskany while Jordyn Carlo drove home two of the runs; Juliet Tagliaferri struck out 10 Beavers while allowing three hits and one walk.

Class AA

Liverpool defeated Rome Free Academy 10-1 in one semifinal at Onondaga Community College and Baldwinsville beat Cicero-North Syracuse 3-2 in the other, setting up a championship game with the top two seeds.

Cicero-North Syracuse (6-13) scored first against No. 2 Baldwinsville (18-1) but the Bees took the lead with two runs in the fifth inning and added one in the sixth. Baldwinsville pitcher Taylor Tripodi struck out 13 North Stars while Leah VerSchneider singled and tripled for the Bees. Riley Barrett and Aubrey Coyle each singled, doubled and scored a run for Cicero-North Syracuse.

Cassie Wiggins pitched a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts for No. 1 Liverpool and the Warriors (14-6) took the initial lead with five runs in the second inning. Wiggins also had three hits and drove in three runs while Gracie Zankowski had two hits, two runs scored and two RBI, and Julia Wike scored three times. Lauren Dorfman and Kenidee Campbell had the hits for Rome Free Academy (10-9).

Class B

Altmar-Parish Williamstown, seeded 11th, added a 5-1 win Saturday over No. 7 Westhill to previous playoff victories over No. 6 Jordan-Elbridge and No. 3 Chittenango, and earned a shot at No. 1 Marcellus.

Marcellus (16-3) shut out No. 12 Skaneateles 8-0 for its sixth consecutive victory and 11th in 12 games. The Mustangs also blanked No. 9 Mexico Academy in their Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Marcellus led 2-0 Saturday before scoring six runs in the sixth inning in Herkimer. Annabella Mondello pitched a two-hit shutout with nine strikeouts, and Brooklyn Finnerty had two hits and three runs batted in.

Altmar-Parish-Williamstown’s upset-minded Rebels got a three-run home run from Zoie Ferris, and five-hit pitching with eight strikeouts and no walks from Christa Koagel who also contributed two doubles among her three hits, an RBI and one run scored.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Poland, Oriskany advance to Section III's Class D softball final