Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Zapata and Greece softball avenge earlier defeat

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Skylar Zapata struck out five without issuing a walk in the game. She allowed two unearned runs on three hits and two hit batters. (Photo: JENNIFER LAEMLEIN)

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Greece softball sent nine to the plate in a five-run third inning, and Skylar Zapata hurled a complete game for a 10-2 victory over Spencerport.

Leading 5-2, Ally Ray Schumacher led the third with the first of three straight singles to spark Greece.

“It was electric,” head coach Nichole Blackwell said.  “It was a fun inning to be in.”

Schumacher stole home for the first run of the inning. Ashlee Laemlein scored on an Aleksa Lelis base hit before Zapata brought home Lelis with a two-out single to center. Rylee Brick and Grisselle Maldonavo took advantage of an error to cap the inning’s offense.

“Being confident and feeding off the energy,” Blackwell said of the key to the big inning. “I keep telling the girls that if we stay up and we stay positive, then no one can beat us. It’s us beating ourselves.”

VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM JENNIFER LAEMLEIN HERE. 

With the eight-run lead, Zapata returned to the circle and retired the next 10 batters she faced.

“Skylar just crushed it,” Blackwell said. “She was on.”

The senior right-hander struck out five without issuing a walk in the game. She allowed two unearned runs on three hits and two hit batters.

Blackwell commended Greece catcher Macie Vetter for her role in the pitching performance.

“Macie called such a great game,” Blackwell explained. “They have a special bond those two.”

Zapata finished the game with eight ground ball outs and limited Spencerport to one ball out of the infield over the final four innings.

“She wasn’t going to let her team down,” Blackwell said. “Her determination and her drive to just not let her foot off the gas was the difference.”

Schumacher and Zapata finished with three hits and two runs scored apiece. Both drove in a run. Laemlein went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Lelis was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Vetter walked and scored in the win.

“They all pieced it together,” Blackwell said. “Everybody contributes in their own little way whether it’s an offensive play or a defensive play. You have a bad at-bat and then you use your glove in the next inning.”

Spencerport took a 13-9 decision when the two teams met in early April.

“We had one bad inning, and we defeated ourselves,” Blackwell said of the loss. “If we cleaned up some of those mistakes and some of those mental, then you have a totally different outcome. That’s we did here. We cleaned up the mistakes, and we had a totally different outcome.”

The Greece team is a combination of players from three different high schools: Athena, Odyssey and Olympia.

“It was interesting to see how everybody was going to come together. There is no attitude. There is no I. These girls have gelled and come together when it could have been a disaster of a season. They have rallied around one another. They wanted to be able to play and compete and compete at a high level.”

The combining of the three schools allowed Vetter (a student at Greece Olympia) and Zapata (a student at Greece Athena) to play together again.

“They played together in little league. Since Greece decided this year to combine, this is the first time they’ve been able to play together in high school.

“The parents were pretty excited that some of these kids that started off together in little league then kinda split off are able to come back together.”

Greece improved to 5 wins and 4 losses on the season.

Spencerport’s Kaitlin Crowley finished 1-for-3 with an RBI. Sydney Collier and Emma Gionta scored a run apiece for the Rangers (3-6). Athena Chance added an RBI. Kat Althouse and Kelsey Sick both connected for a single. Collier struck out the side in her one inning of work in the circle.

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