Fredonia shortstop Sophia Gullo throws to first base during the Class B Crossover game against the Iroquois Chiefs, Tuesday, at Grand Island Senior High School. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

GRAND ISLAND — The Fredonia Lady ‘Billies had a bitter feeling of deja vu on Tuesday night in the Class B Crossover game.

After celebrating a Section VI, Class B2 title a year ago, Fredonia’s season came to an end in the Crossover game at the hands of Depew. This time around, Fredonia found itself back in the Crossover game, but it was a different opponent that brought back an eerie familiarity.

The latest Class B Crossover game was a rematch of an earlier matchup this year in the regular season between Fredonia and the Iroquois Chiefs. Unfortunately for Fredonia, it had the same result. Iroquois defeated Fredonia 9-4 on Tuesday night at Grand Island Senior High School to earn the right to represent Section VI, Class B in the Far West Regional softball game this weekend.

Comparing the earlier regular season game to Tuesday’s contest, the same two pitchers started, Fredonia struggled defensively in each game and Iroquois scored nine runs in a victory. Tuesday night, however, was a much more meaningful contest — and Fredonia’s defense played tight throughout the evening.

“The difference in the game is, a few times, we got a little tentative defensively. You could see it,” said Fredonia head coach Jesse Beers. “We talked in practice this week about just letting it all hang out. If we leave it on the field, then I think we’re going to be able to go home — win, lose, or draw — and feel good about it. But you could see at just a few times, we got a little tight. … It certainly wasn’t our greatest game defensively.”

Early on, however, everything looked great for the Lady ‘Billies defensively. The first play of the game was a leaping catch by first baseman Jenna Truby on a line drive down the base line. After a scoreless first inning, Fredonia (15-5, Class B2 champions) posted another zero in the second inning thanks to a stellar defensive play by shortstop Sophia Gullo. A sharply hit one-hopper off the turf went off pitcher Jordan Lucas’ glove and popped in the air. Gullo stuck with it and fired to first base to get the second out of the inning, keeping a runner from likely scoring if the ball reached the outfield. Fredonia catcher Callie Draggett made a play on a foul ball straight up behind home plate to end the top of the second inning, still scoreless.

The Lady ‘Billies broke through with the game’s first run in the bottom of the second inning. The two healthy Fredonia seniors got the girls in orange and white on the board with a leadoff double from Gaby Matos, followed by an RBI single by Jenna Truby. Although the Lady ‘Billies did not add on after that despite loading the bases with one out, Fredonia led 1-0 after the second inning.

“We were doing a good job hanging in. I thought we were having good at-bats. We had a good plan — they made a few plays on some balls that we hit — but we were grinding at-bats,” Beers said.

Iroquois (13-7, Class B1 champions) got on the board in the next half inning, as a two-out fly ball to shallow left field dropped in for a hit to score a run. An RBI single followed for a 2-1 Iroquois lead.

Fredonia managed to tie the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI groundout by Matos. But then came the fourth inning, where the wheels fell off for Fredonia.

Iroquois capitalized on a leadoff walk, an error, and a bunt single to load the bases with no outs, despite the ball not leaving the infield. Then another shallow fly ball to the outfield fell to the turf as the ball was dropped in center field for a 3-2 lead. A sacrifice fly and a two-run single followed in the inning to give Iroquois a 6-2 lead and a four-run fourth inning. From that point on, Iroquois never trailed.

Fredonia managed to add two more runs — one each in the fifth and seventh innings — but could not hold Iroquois scoreless in any of the final three innings after falling behind. Iroquois scored one run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to put the game out of reach.

“If you told me going into the beginning of the game we were going to score four runs, I would’ve thought we were going to be okay — and we had opportunities to score a lot more,” Beers said. “We had our opportunities, didn’t cash in, and it seemed like every time we started to gain a little momentum, they would plate one again.”

In defeat, Fredonia’s season comes to an end in the Class B Crossover for the second straight season. Last year, Fredonia was eliminated by Class B1 champion Depew at the same stage of the postseason.

“If you look at the season as a whole, I don’t think you can be disappointed in it. But this game should leave a bad taste in our mouth,” Beers said. “We didn’t play to our best, so we’ll use that as fuel.”

Fredonia now graduates three seniors: Matos, Truby, and Sarah Davis who missed all of her senior season with a knee injury, but still stuck by her teammates in the dugout until the very end, donning hardware supporting her injured knee. Truby had the game’s first putout and its first RBI, while Matos went out with a bang — playing a part in all four Fredonia runs with three hits, two doubles, two runs batted in and two runs scored.

“You could see the look in her eyes tonight, she didn’t want this to be her last game,” Beers said of Matos. “Her leadership in the dugout and her leadership with all the youth that we have has been invaluable.”

Beers added of all three seniors, “Those girls all matured into leaders right before our eyes this year.”