That was the case for Randolph on Tuesday.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning and Steward made sure that was enough with a three-hitter and 10 strikeouts in the circle en route to a 3-1 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 East win over Silver Creek at Gail N. Chapman Elementary School.

“She’s just been in control all season,” Randolph head coach Geoff Olson said. “When she’s pitching like that, you feel like if you can throw a couple of runs on the board, you’ll be in good shape.”

Randolph (4-2, 3-0) batted around on its way to taking a 3-0 lead in its second at-bat. Harper Smith led off with a single to right field and Alaina Bunker reached on a fielder’s choice when the Black Knights threw late to second base attempting to get Smith. After a strikeout, Allie Conley reached on an error to load the bases. Juliana Syracuse followed with a grounder to the pitcher and reached first when the throw was dropped, plating Smith with the first run of the game.

Randolph’s Kendall Steward slides in safely for a triple during Tuesday’s game against Silver Creek. P-J photo by Matt Spielman

“One bad inning killed us. Errors in the field didn’t help our pitcher. … We had a bad throw to first and an error at first, then a bad play at third. Little stuff like that kind of kills you,” Silver Creek head coach Justin Cerne said. “We knew going into it that it was going to be tight. We look forward to seeing them later in the year.”

Kyra Pence then drove in Bunker with an RBI single on a line drive to left field and Sadie Steward helped her sister’s cause with an RBI single on a fly ball to right field to make it 3-0.

“As we go through the season, we play a lot of games. You have to have the middle and bottom of your lineup doing things, making things happen on the bases as well. If you can get that going, it’s huge,” Olson said. “As great as the top of our order is, you don’t want to always just rely on them.”

Silver Creek (4-3, 2-2) ace Kaylee Hutchison got out of the inning with a pop out to second base and a strikeout, but Randolph’s damage was done.

The Black Knights got a run back in the top of the fifth inning. No. 9 hitter Caitlyn Rice reached on a one-out error and came all the way around to score on eighth-grader Rylee Weiskerger’s long triple to left-center field.

Kendall Steward got out of the inning with a comebacker that held Weiskerger at third and a grounder down the first-base line to Conley, who ran to the bag for the final out of the inning.

“She got stranded a couple of times,” Cerne said of Weiskerger. “You hope you can turn those into runs.”

The Cardinals nearly added on in both the fifth and sixth innings, but aggressive play on the basepaths became their undoing. In the fifth, Sadie Steward walked and stole second, but when the throw got away she attempted to take third base. Black Knights shortstop Amber Lockwood scrambled to the ball and threw to third where Rice applied the tag for the second out of the inning. In the sixth, Smith doubled to right field and went to third on a groundout, but attempted to score on Conley’s safety-squeeze bunt and was thrown out at the plate.

“I do like the aggressiveness. … We try to tell them to be cautiously aggressive. Go after it. Especially with a lead of a couple of runs, I don’t mind them being aggressive,” Olson said. “If they get out, we’ll talk about it and say ‘Hey, maybe next time this wasn’t the best decision.'”

Silver Creek’s leadoff batter reached second on an error to open the top of the seventh inning, but with the tying run coming to the plate three times, Kendall Steward got a fly out to right fielder Quinn Pence, a comebacker and another fly out to Quinn Pence to end the game.

“There are certain games you get up for and everybody knows … the history with some of these teams. … We have certain games we are circling,” Cerne said. ” … The league is up for grabs right now. We have to have a little more complete effort.”

Hutchison pitched well in defeat, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out six.

Randolph will be back in action today against nonleague Chautauqua Lake, which could be a Section VI Class C playoff matchup down the road, before traveling to league foe Gowanda on Thursday. Silver Creek hosts Brocton on Thursday.

“It’s a brutal week. … You have two really big league games and Chautauqua Lake in between,” Olson said. “The weather isn’t great any of the days, which makes it even harder.”