People in the community were reminded of how well the Lady Panthers played on Thursday night by looking up to the scoreboard, as the Lady Panthers downed Randolph, 5-3, in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 East softball game on Senior Night.

“The team has shown definite improvement this year,” said Pine Valley coach Dave Saxton. “From how we played earlier in the year, we are making better plays and the results are starting to come from it. We are a young team with a bright future. Now that we beat a great team, we have picked up more confidence and maybe more quality results to come.”

Randolph (7-3) struck early with a run in the first two innings. In the first, Mya Adams led off with a double that went to the left-field fence. She would score on the next pitch as Kyra Pence brought her in with an RBI single. In the second inning, Lavani Johnson doubled after Nikki Lockwood walked. On the play, Autumn Ellis was quick to retrieve the ball from left field and had a quick relay to catcher Morgan Sandy, who applied the tag for the first out. Maisie Abrams would bring Johnson home with an RBI groundout.

“We did a great job of hitting early,” Randolph coach Geoff Olson stated. “As the game progressed, we made some mistakes and could not get a timely hit, but credit goes to Pine Valley as they made some good plays when they needed to. Their fielders came through with great assists.”

Randolph’s Ella Conley slides head first into third base under the tag of Pine Valley’s Trista Farnham during Thursday’s Division 2 East softball game.

Pine Valley (4-5) responded with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Payton Swanson got the rally started with a single. Trista Farnham followed and hit an inside the park home run that barely cleared third base and went into the left field corner.

“That was the first home run that we have hit in over two years,” Saxton said. “Trista is a freshman and a great newcomer with a lot of expectations.”

The Lady Panthers kept the momentum going with an unearned run in the third, but Randolph tied the game up in the fifth. Ella Conley singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Abby Mansfield. Kendall Schmitt came through with an RBI single.

Pine Valley put together a solid sixth inning with deep hits. Haley Campbell led off with a single. With two outs, Mattison Cadle had the blast of the day as the ball went well over the outfielder’s head to record a double. Swanson would provide the Panthers with an insurance run as she singled Cadle home.

Randolph got a rally going in the seventh to put the tying run on first. However, Waag got the Panthers out of the threat as a groundball to third ended the game.

Waag pitched the full seven innings for the Panthers, surrendering three runs from eight hits and four walks while striking out four. She worked well with catcher Morgan Sandy as she called a great game.

Mansfield gave up five runs from seven hits and one free pass while striking out one.

Mya Abrams was the lone Cardinal with a multiple hit game or an extra base hit as she contributed with two singles and a double.

“Mya has done a fantastic job hitting for us this year,” Olson added. “She was hitting over .600 coming into the game and went three for four today. I am proud of how well she has played and to hit over .600 this year is a great accomplishment. We can rely on her to get on base, but it depends if we can add on to her hits and tonight we could not.”

Swanson led the Lady Panthers with three singles, while Campbell had a multiple hit game of her own with two singles. Farnham and Cadle each had timely hits with a home run and double respectively.

After the game, Pine Valley celebrated two seniors who played softball, Malori Waag and Katelyn Miller.