Cortland Standard .net

CHITTENANGO — The Cortland High softball team made some program history Thursday afternoon.
The Purple Tigers beat host Chittenango 8-0 behind a two-hit, 14-strikeout pitching performance from sophomore Cady Walts to clinch the OHSL Freedom National Division championship, the first league title for the program in 28 years.
“I”m really proud of the way the girls played with what we had on the line,” said CHS coach Zac Darrow, his team now 8-4 league and 10-4 overall after its seventh win in a row and ninth in its last 10 games. “They knew that no Cortland softball team had won a division title since 1987 and they were definitely out to change that. We hit the ball really well today, but their third baseman made a heck of a lot of plays in the field. You can’t always have the offensive production that we had against Homer (in a 19-1 win on Wednesday), but I felt that we swung the bats just as well, we just didn’t always find the holes in the defense.
“Defensively, we were very solid behind Cady, with the exception of the one dropped pop up in the bottom of the seventh. Cady was dominant today, really working her spots all over the plate and keeping their hitters guessing. Coach Darrow (Jessie, Zac’s wife), Cady, and (eighth-grade catcher) Ashley Shortsleeve have a great mix of pitches going right now and there’s a lot of trust being built between them, which is excellent for us down the stretch. The second 14-strikeout game in a week really highlights that.”
Walts had a no-hitter until a leadoff single by Trish Whaley in the bottom of the fifth. The only other hit by Chittenango (1-9, 1-10) came from pinch-hitter Nicole Myers in the sixth.
Cortland got all the runs it would need in the first inning. Walts led off with a single and Shortsleeve bunted for a hit before, one out later, sophomore third baseman Kacie Hubbard laced an RBI single to left. Senior first baseman Abby Hess then plated Shortsleeve with a double down the left field line.
Junior left fielder Hannah Whelan singled to left to lead off the second and eventually scored on a single to right by Hubbard. The winners added three runs in the fifth as Whelan had a two-run single and then scored on a single by Walts.
The Purple Tigers wrapped up the scoring with single runs in the sixth and seventh. Senior center fielder Ali Bustamante led off the sixth with a single up the middle and scored on a doubled to left center by Hess. Shortsleeve walked to open the seventh and later came home on a groundout by Hubbard.
Shortsleeve ended up going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Whalen went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run. Walts (RBI, two runs), Hubbard (two RBIs), Hess (two doubles, two RBIs) and Bustamante (run) all went 2-for-5.
CORTLAND JVs beat Chittenango 17-16 to improve to 4-7 league and overall as winning pitcher Taylor Hart and Rhiana Eleck each singled home a run in the top of the seventh to break a 15-15 tie. Hart got a strikeout with the tying run on second in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.
Hart had four hits, including an RBI, and drove in four runs while Eleck, Leah Romer, Claira Race, Jessica Kenyon and McKenzie Johnson had multiple-hit games.
Both Cortland teams host East Syracuse-Minoa at 4:30 p.m. today, the varsity at Meldrim Field and the JVs at Beaudry Park to close out their season. The varsity visits Bishop Grimes Wednesday for a non-leaguer in its regular-season finale.
— Cortland High’s first place baseball team got past Chittenango 7-6 on Thursday.