By TIM IRVING
Lightning does strike twice, albeit two years apart.
Honeoye Falls-Lima scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Pittsford Sutherland for the second straight Class A2 Sectional title game, 5-4.
In 2019, the Cougars scored seven runs in the fifth inning to beat the Knights 8-4 behind an 11-strikeout performance from then-sophomore Quinn Adcock.
Second-seeded Sutherland took a 1-0 lead when Riley Gonzalez drove a ball deep to center that was dropped at the last second allowing Zoe Lehtonen to score.
The Knights’ defense was impeccable behind sophomore pitcher Madeline Ward. Sophomore second baseman Addie Bernas made two spectacular grabs to keep the Cougars off the board.
In the top of the fifth, Julianna Lyons singled home Lehtonen and Gonzalez singled home Lyons and Sutherland had a 3-0 lead.
In the sixth, the Cougars finally got a run across when Kate Tanner smoked a ball to left that one-hopped the fence. Initially, it looked like a home run but was ruled a ground-rule double, scoring Ryann Tanner.
In the top of the seventh, Lehtonen connected on her fourth single of the game, stole her fourth base and scored on throwing errors trying to slow down the senior for a 4-1 Knights lead.
“I wasn’t…well, I was a little worried,” Adcock said.
Maggie Adams reached on an error and went to third on a ground out. Lead-off hitter Olivia Friedlander hit a fielder’s choice grounder and was safe on an error allowing Adams to cut the lead to 4-2.
Tanner reached on a bunt single and freshman Kate Dailor singled to center scoring Friedlander to cut the lead to 4-3.
With two outs, Adcock came to the plate.
“I had two strikes on me and the ump had a wide strike zone so I wanted to attack,” Adcock said. “I saw the outside pitch and what better way with runners on than to hit behind them so they could score.”
The senior’s single to right scored Tanner with the tying run and coach Bailey Smith saw Dailor running from first to third and sent her home.
“I knew she had great legs and a great slide and honestly, she just took it on her back and went for it,” Smith recounted.
Dailor slid home as the throw went over her head and the Cougars walked-off to their second straight title.
“One thing I said when I came into this program was, I’m putting more numbers on that banner. Two years ago, we hadn’t even won Sectionals and now we have won two, repeat in not even back-to-back years, so it’ll never be done again,” said a smiling Adcock.
Leave a Reply