By STEVEN BRICKLER
HONEOYE FALLS, N.Y. — Tournament MVP Kaili Witherell struck out 11 batters over five innings as the No. 1 seed Haverling Rams secured the Section V Softball Class B1 title with an 18-0 victory over No. 3 Waterloo at Honeoye Falls-Lima High School on Thursday afternoon. It was the school’s first softball championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2015 and 16. The win punctuated a sectional run that saw the Rams outscore their three opponents by a 50-0 margin.
After retiring the first three Tiger batters in order to open the game, Witherell was supported by a nine-run outburst in the bottom of the first, as Haverling sent 14 batters to the plate. The Rams played station-to-station softball for the most part in the first inning, with the only extra-base hit being an RBI ground rule double by Caydence Spears to bring in Abbie Whaley for the first run of the game. The Rams otherwise generated the rest of their runs in the first frame via walks, hit by pitch, singles and a couple of errors and passed balls by Waterloo.
“I said to the girls, who hits around in the first inning of the sectional finals?” commented Haverling coach Rachel Ratchford.
“It felt very relieving”, said Witherell of being staked to a 9-0 lead. “It was like a weight off the shoulders. I knew that my team had my back in that moment.”
After another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second, the Rams picked up where they left off at the plate, adding another six runs to their scoreline in the bottom half, this time aided by the long ball.
Lola Coots led off the inning with a double to the gap in right center, followed by a single and walk by Kas Plewa and Gabrielle Shroyer to load the bases. Senior Lane Prescott took it from there, clearing the bases with a grand slam over the left field wall to extend the lead to 13-0. The Rams continued on to score twice more for a 15-0 advantage.
Witherell allowed only two hits, a single by Henley Guy in the top of the third and another single by Gwyn Panek in the fourth. The last seven outs she recorded were via strikeout. The offense tacked on another two runs in the bottom of the third and one in the bottom of the fourth to account for the final margin.
For the Rams, this was redemption for sectional final losses in each of the last three seasons. The way they accomplished their goal of a sectional title was quite unexpected.
“This is definitely a good feeling, not what we expected, we didn’t expect it to be this big of a win, but it feels amazing”, said Ratchford. “These girls worked really hard in the off-season. They all play travel ball all year round and we just said this year is our year.”
Added Witherell, “It was just insane. The whole thing felt so surreal. Our sectional runs have never been like this before and it’s very reassuring as we continue on through the tournament.”
The Rams (17-3) will face Class B2 champion on Saturday for the right to advance to the NYS tournament next week.
Having played a series of games in the sectional tournament where they were not seriously challenged., Witherell knows the focus needs to take a step up as they continue to move on.
“I think this is when we dial in. Whoever we play on Saturday, we know it’s going to be a good team, and we just have to come out ready and be prepared to take on.”
Waterloo was looking for its third title since 2019, finished the season with a 12-8 record.
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