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Maple Grove Girls Fall To Portville

Maple Grove’s Caleigh Swanson is greeted by her teammates after her two-run home run in the fourth inning of Saturday’s Section VI Class C2 championship game against Portville. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

DUNKIRK — Each time Maple Grove scored Saturday, Portville had an answer.

The Panthers’ final answer was too much for the Red Dragons to overcome.

Top-seeded Portville scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat No. 3 Maple Grove, 6-3, in the Section VI Class C2 championship game at Promenschenkel Field.

“They are a very young, but very talented group here. I was excited to see how it would unfold,” Portville coach Bill Torrey said after the Panthers clinched the first softball title in program history. ” … You never know what you are going to get into once you get to playoff time, but we’re not 15-5 by accident.”

No. 7 hitter Jenna Lockwood reached on a fielder’s choice that produced the second out in the bottom of the sixth before moving up on Hannah Wilber’s single. Jessica Munson, the Panthers’ No. 9 hitter, then came through with her second big RBI of the game, scoring Lockwood with a single that fell in to short left field to give Portville a 4-3 lead.

Maple Grove shortstop Mary Nickerson sets to throw to first during Saturday’s Section VI Class C2 championship game. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“It’s huge when you can get some production from the bottom of your lineup,” Torrey said. “They had some nice hits drop in there and we had some aggressive base running.”

After a double steal, leadoff hitter Jill Hlasnick drove a single between first and second base to score two more runs and give the Panthers some breathing room heading into the final half-inning.

Mary Nickerson reached on a one-out single in the top of the seventh, but Portville ace Sydney Colligan induced a lineout to second base for the final out, sending the Panthers into Tuesday’s Class C crossover game against Class C1 champion Chautauqua Lake, back at Wright Park.

“She did a very nice job trying to control the game. We know her strengths and her weaknesses,” Torrey said of his sophomore ace. “She did a nice job mixing in some offspeed pitches to kind of keep them guessing. I credit that to her making adjustments. She does everything we ask of her.”

Earlier Saturday, it looked like it might be Maple Grove’s night when No. 7 hitter Caleigh Swanson hit a two-run home run to dead center field with two outs in the top of the third inning to give the Red Dragons a brief 2-0 lead.

“I’ve been waiting for her to jack one all year,” Maple Grove coach Curt Fischer said. “She’s a power hitter.”

Portville answered right back in the bottom half of the frame as Piper Slocum led off with a triple and scored on Karly Welty’s fielder’s choice when the throw home was extremely late. After Welty was caught stealing, Haley Unverdorben walked and Kara Howard reached on an error. Lockwood then reached on a fielder’s choice when the Red Dragons’ throw mistakenly went to third base, loading the bases with just one out. After a short pop-up to third base, Munson tied the game at 2-all when she beat out an infield single.

“Not taking anything away from them, but we did make some crucial errors. We had some mental mistakes that cost us,” Fischer said. “They deserve to win that game, but you just can’t make those kind of mistakes.”

The Red Dragons took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth when Taylor Samuelson walked, went to third on a Nickerson double and scored on Elise Swanson’s sacrifice fly, but Portville answered in the bottom half when Bryn Milne reached on an error, alertly stole second on a throw down to first, took third on a delayed steal and scored when the throw trickled into shallow left field.

“We probably shouldn’t have thrown the ball there,” Fischer said. “I probably should’ve taken control there. We just shouldn’t have taken that chance.”

“We weren’t at that point moving worlds with our bats, but at the same time I had my fastest runner on third,” Torrey said of the steal of third. “If there’s an overthrow, she’s the one I’d send. We rolled the dice and it worked out in our favor.”

Colligan wasn’t as dominant as she has been at times this season, but still threw well enough to win, allowing five hits and walking four despite not striking out a single batter.

“I was happy with the way that we hit the ball today, we just kept hitting it at somebody,” Fischer said. “Their shortstop played phenomenally.”

Lynne Nordin took the loss, striking out three and walking one in an eight-hitter.

“I felt that Lynne threw the ball really well,” Fischer said. “It was just untimely mistakes, a lot of that is off of Lynne. She played great.”

NOTES: Hlasnick and Munson each had two hits for Portville while Nickerson was the only Maple Grove player with two hits.

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