OBSERVER photo by Lisa Monacelli Chautauqua Lake third baseman Cianna Braymiller, fields a ball in the Lady Thunderbirds’ 2-1 loss against Portville, Tuesday.

The Chautauqua Lake Lady Thunderbirds lost a hard fought game to the Portville Lady Panthers in the Section VI Class C crossover game on Tuesday night, 2-1, at Promenschenkel Stadium. The game was a pitcher’s duel where hits came at a premium.

Portville pitcher Sydney Colligan received the win for the game giving up one run on five hits over seven innings while walking two and striking out six. “Sid threw many off-speed pitches, keeping them off-balance,” Portville coach William Torrey said. “She got great support from the field. Even our few errors were aggressive errors.”

Olivia Anderson had a great effort in defeat, giving up two runs on four hits in six innings while recording three strikeouts and giving up only one free pass. “Olivia (Anderson) has done a great job for us all season,” said Chautauqua Lake coach Sue Teets. “She kept us in the game, giving us an opportunity to get the win.”

Chautauqua Lake scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. After Chadelynn Johnson’s single and stolen base brought her to second, Anderson came through with an RBI single to score Johnson on the play.

It did not take long for Portville to respond scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Karly Welty walked, Kara Howard hit a single and advanced to second on the throw. Jenna Lockwood hit a two-RBI bloop single into rightfield which gave the hosts the lead. “This is about as equal of a team that I have coached,” Torrey stated. “The bottom of the order has really been producing the quality hits for us. Lockwood does not have a great batting average, but comes up with timely hits.”

See LADY T’BIRDS, On Page B2

Chautauqua Lake had a great opportunity in the sixth inning, but poor base running ended any rally and momentum for the Thunderbirds. According to Teets, “We had our chances today.

We had some critical base running errors that took us out of the game. We have been close in the past few games, but Portville needs to get credit because they made the big plays when it mattered. The girls played hard. We just could not get over the hump.”

Lockwood had the only multiple hit game for either team. Chautauqua Lake had five singles coming from five different girls: Katelyn and Brittany Fardink, Johnson, Anderson, and Cianna Braymiller.

This was the last game for five seniors at Chautauqua Lake. “Lakin Gustafson, Brittany Fardink, Ally Bird, Allie Cummings, and Kaitlyn Paulus will be leaving us after this year,” Teets said. “They are a good group of girls. They have been dedicated and have played their hearts out for us. Even though it is sad to see them go, the core group will be coming back. Olivia and Shay will return. They have been part of the team since seventh grade and are the heart and soul of our squad.”

This was a record-setting season for Portville. This is the first time in school history that they won the overall sectional title and will be playing in the Far West Regional.