Dragons Dig Deep
Led By Nordin, Maple Grove Advances To Class C2 Final
BEMUS POINT — First baseman Lizzy Harrison dug a low throw out of the dirt and held her foot on the bag just long enough for the final out to secure No. 3 Maple Grove’s 5-2 Section VI Class C2 semifinal win over No. 7 Silver Creek at Bemus Point Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon.
It was the fitting end to a game that took less than an hour-and-a-half to complete with Red Dragons starting pitcher Lynne Nordin keeping 15 of her 21 outs on the infield to go along with three strikeouts.
“I don’t think she walked anyone, that’s huge,” Maple Grove coach Curt Fischer said of Nordin. “She had surgery on her wrist a week before the season started and this is what she’s doing right now. That’s pretty amazing.”
The win puts Maple Grove into Thursday’s 7 p.m. Class C2 final against No. 1 Portville at Promenschenkel Stadium in Dunkirk. The Panthers knocked off No. 4 Cattaraugus-Little Valley, 5-0, on Tuesday thanks in large part to pitcher Sydney Colligan’s one-hitter.
“We’re definitely going to have to play great defense and be able to work out a couple of runs,” Fischer said. “We’ve got to get them any way we can.”
The Red Dragons jumped on top in the third inning Tuesday against the Black Knights. No. 9 hitter Sammy Davis led off with a walk and with one out, Mary Nickerson hit a drive down the left-field line that rolled long enough to allow Maple Grove’s shortstop to circle the bases and slide into home easily ahead of the relay throw for a 2-0 lead.
“That was tremendous. That takes a lot of pressure off for sure, especially in a game like this,” Fischer said of the home run. “Their pitcher was throwing well and you knew it was going to come down to late in the game.”
The hosts added on in the fourth inning as Harrison led off with a single, went to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on Sky Tarapacki’s RBI single to right field.
“She’s just come on in the later part of this year. It’s been fun to watch her grow,” Fischer said of Harrison. “Right now she is playing the best softball she’s ever played.”
In the Maple Grove fifth inning, leadoff hitter Taylor Samuelson walked, went to second on Nickerson’s single and stole third before scoring on a ground ball from Elise Swanson that was bobbled by the Black Knights’ infield.
“We had seven seniors on the team. You can’t ask for them to play any harder,” Silver Creek coach Stacie Bauer said. “We did defensively what we needed to do, unfortunately on offense we got going a little late.”
Harrison also played a big part in the Red Dragons’ final run as she tripled to right field to open the bottom of the sixth. Sarah Berg was called on to pinch-run and it immediately paid off as she raced home on a wild pitch.
“I brought her up from jayvees because she’s a speedster. I just got done telling her ‘on a passed ball you are going,'” Fischer said of Berg. “This is her first year of softball, but she’s so fast she’s going to be a big asset for us.”
The five runs were more than enough for Nordin, who struck out a pair of batters in the first inning before the Maple Grove defense began to do its job. The Black Knights went down in order in the second, fourth and sixth innings despite striking out just once over the span.
“We had a good regular season. We lost a lot of games, but the games that we lost, Lynne only gave up like 10 hits,” Fischer said of his sophomore hurler. “She’s not going to overpower anyone, but she did a great job of keeping people off-balanced, especially a hot team like that. Lynne was the key today.”
Silver Creek did not go quietly in the seventh as Jessie Daniels reached on a one-out single and Russo, the No. 9 hitter, drove in pinch-runner Kiera Brennan with a two-out double.
“These girls left it on the field. That’s what I asked them to do. Coming off the high of last week’s game against Frewsburg, I definitely think we were in a good place,” Bauer said. “People started taking notice and didn’t come in thinking they were going to roll over us.”
Leadoff hitter Julia Hill followed with a one-out single and Claire Castiglia nearly extended the game on a ground ball to short, but Harrison’s play at first put the game away for the Red Dragons.
“We had 13 hits last week. We were definitely finding the holes. Today we were hitting it right to them,” Bauer said. “Take nothing away from Maple Grove, they made the plays they needed to make and we just didn’t find enough holes.”
NOTES: Harrison had three hits and Nickerson had two for the Red Dragons. … Hill had two hits for the Black Knights. … Thursday’s C2 champion will take on the C1 champion next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Promenschenkel Stadium.
COMMENTS