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By STEVE BRICKLER
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Senior Makenzie Cowburn pitched a one hitter (a single to lead off the game) and faced only 22 batters as second seeded Wellsville (20-1) claimed its fourth straight Class B softball title with a 4-0 win over top seeded Haverling (19-2) at Finger Lakes Community College.
Asked about what was different this year as opposed to the previous three titles, co-head coach Shelley Chaffee said, “I think the senior leadership number one. The four solid seniors that we have, they’re all going to play softball in college. They are amazing leaders. We had that one defensive inning where we made three amazing defensive plays and then we came back and scored two runs.”
Added Coach Jaime McLaughlin, “I think this team the biggest thing is their confidence in themselves and their confidence in each other. They play with that and they work together. It’s a total team effort.”
“They love playing softball. Many of them have played since they have been 8-to-10 years old, and they love it,” said Chaffee.
The game was a battle of titans as both teams came into the game with identical 19-1 records and a combined 37 straight wins between them.
Both pitchers were dominant in the early going as Haverling’s Kaili Witherell set down the first 9 Lions’ batters for a perfect three innings which included 5 strikeouts. Cowburn also set down nine in a row after a Makayla Smith leadoff single in the first for Haverling. Cowburn was helped out by her defense, most notably on a sliding catch of a hard liner to right by Averee Palmatier off the bat of Rams’ shortstop Lola Coots to end the bottom of the second inning. It would prove to be the last ball that Cowburn allowed out of the infield for the remainder of the game.
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The Lions finally broke through in the top of the fourth as Sawyer Burke singled on an 0-2 pitch to lead off the inning. With one out, Makenna Dunbar hit a hot smash down the 3rd base line that rolled to the wall for a triple, scoring Burke. Dunbar would score the second run after an infield error with 2 outs.
Pitching with a two-run lead to begin the bottom of the fourth, Cowburn allowed the only other Haverling baserunner the whole game by issuing a leadoff walk, the only walk of the entire game for either team. Again, the Wellsville defense rose to the occasion as a Haverling sacrifice bunt was handled by the Wellsville defense at first base, but 1st baseman Teagan Burke alertly threw across the diamond to 3rd baseman Lindsay Stuck who tagged out the Haverling baserunner trying to stretch the sacrifice an extra base to complete the double play.
“We work so well together in the infield. There’s no other words to say it, they’re just outstanding,” said Cowburn postgame.
Wellsville added some insurance in the top of the 5th inning as leadoff hitter Marissa Ordway gained first on a hit by pitch. This was followed by a pair of bunt singles by Teagan and Sawyer Burke. With the bases loaded and one out, Dunbar hit a grounder up the middle that Haverling second baseman Kasandra Plewa made a diving stop on to keep the ball from getting to the outfield. However, she was unable to get the ball out of her glove in time to get the force at second as two Wellsville baserunners crossed home plate to give the Lions a 4-0 lead.
The remaining two and a half innings saw only one base runner in total as Teagan Burke had an infield single to lead off the top of the seventh for Wellsville. Cowburn struck out five of the last nine batters she faced, while the Lions’ defense handled all the routine plays to complete the four-peat.
For Haverling, the future looks bright as they return 8 starters next spring as only third baseman Madison Coots graduates. Said Coach Rachel Ratchford postgame, “We did our best. We did a really good job putting the ball in play, we just couldn’t find a gap.”
Looking forward to next season Ratchford spoke to the commitment of her players. “They play travel all year long. Even during the season, like last night after practice, they all went to the batting cages to hit. They are so driven and they are such a tight knit group of girls, they just love being together and love spending time together.”
Witherell, a junior, finished the season with a 15-2 mark on the mound for the Rams. She struck out 8 Wellsville batters on the game while giving up six hits.
Cowburn, a senior, improved her win-loss record to 13-1, also striking out 8 batters on the game. She talked about her team’s mindset going into the game. “We all got on the bus at 6:45 this morning, we were a little tired. And then we were like, you know what, no, we can’t be tired. We’re going to go into this game fired up. We just got to go in, just knowing their hitters already with the scouting that our coaches did was just super helpful.”
With another state tournament on the horizon next weekend (Wellsville plays the winner of Fredonia and Wilson of Section VI in the Far West Regional next Saturday), the Lions look to take things further than they have in the previous 2 seasons (there was no state tournament in 2021 due to Covid). In 2022, they lost in the Far West regionals, while last season they advanced to the state semi-final round.
Said Chaffee, “Now we regroup, and we go back to work and we prep for that. We’ll do a lot of film study and get ready for Fredonia or Wilson.”
Cowburn was a bit more succinct when talking about how things look for the state tournament, “Hopefully pretty good.”
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