Chautauqua Lake’s Olivia Anderson hit her first home run at her home field in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Dunkirk Lady Marauders, then proceeded to shut out Dunkirk with 10 strikeouts en route to a 1-0 victory for the Lady Thunderbirds at Chautauqua Lake High School in a CCAA Division 1 West softball game.

“It was a lot of pressure, pitching definitely comes with a lot of pressure,” said Anderson. “I think it helps motivate me and push me. I actually like pitching under the pressure. I think I have my best games when I’m under pressure.”

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Dunkirk High School, but because of field conditions after heavy rainfall on Wednesday, the teams agreed to move the contest to Mayville, but kept Dunkirk as the home team, despite playing on Chautauqua Lake’s field. Because of that fact, Anderson — the third hitter in Chautauqua Lake’s lineup — took her first at-bat of the game before she stepped into the pitcher’s circle she’s called home since seventh grade.

She certainly made the at-bat a memorable one.

OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Chautauqua Lake’s Olivia Anderson swings to hit a home run in the first inning of Thursday’s softball game at Chautauqua Lake High School.

Anderson drilled a pitch from Dunkirk’s Monica Pokoj deep to left field and over the fence for her first home run on her home field, in her sixth season on the varsity team at Chautauqua Lake.

“I was just trying to keep my head on the ball. Lately, I’ve been pulling my head a lot,” said Anderson. “It was an amazing feeling, especially because I’ve never hit one at my own field, so that was really nice, in my senior year.”

After the top of the first inning, Anderson stepped into the circle pitching with the lead from the first pitch she threw. As it turned out, she never lost that lead.

“Where I felt after the first inning was we still have a lot of work to go,” said Chautauqua Lake coach Sue Teets. “If you would’ve told me at that point that it would end 1-0, I would’ve said no way, that’s not going to happen.”

It turns out that it did.

Anderson struck out the side in the first inning, then allowed just one runner in each of the next three innings, on a single by Pokoj and a pair of runners reaching base on errors. Anderson avoided any trouble in each inning, however, and did not allow a runner to reach scoring position through four innings.

In the fifth inning, Dunkirk (4-4, 3-4) had its best chance of the game to push a run across. With only one hit through four innings, Dunkirk finally had multiple runners on base for the first time, after a pair of infield singles. Jessica Beehler hit a bunt single with one out, then with two outs, Kymi Nance reached base on an infield single. That put runners on first and second with two outs, but a bunt attempt trying to catch Chautauqua Lake (8-1, 6-1) was handled easily by Anderson, who threw on to first to end the threat.

“Chay (Johnson) did a great job back there calling the game,” said Teets of her catcher. “I told her before the game she had to mix things up. I told her not to be afraid to call anything.”

Through five innings, Chautauqua Lake only managed five more hits after Anderson’s home run — none of them amounting to a run. The Lady Thunderbirds appeared to have a good chance to tack on an insurance run or two in the sixth inning after Katelyn Fardink reached on a leadoff walk and Anderson followed with an infield single. The next three batters were unable to bring the runs in, however, leaving the score where it was. Only one other time in the game did Chautauqua Lake have a runner in scoring position, which came in the top of the fourth inning after Cianna Braymiller smoked a line drive to deep center field for a leadoff double. Though she advanced to third base with one out, Braymiller was left stranded at third base.

With the way Anderson pitched on Thursday, Chautauqua Lake’s struggles at the plate did not come back to haunt them. With the heart of the Dunkirk lineup due up in the sixth inning, Anderson tallied her eighth and ninth strikeouts of the game to start off the inning, then induced a ground ball on the infield to finish off the sixth inning. A pair of fly balls started the bottom of the seventh inning, before Anderson finished the game in style with her 10th strikeout to seal the victory. Coach Teets kept the ball after the final pitch to save as a souvenir for Anderson.

“It was a lot of pressure on her,” said Teets of Anderson’s performance after Thursday’s game. “She was on tonight. … I was nervous in the sixth and seventh innings. You don’t see many 1-0 ball games, but I think this was good for us.”

“It was a great game,” said Dunkirk coach Michelle Gilmour. “These are the games that are fun to be a part of.”

Anderson finished with only allowing three hits and not walking a batter, in addition to her 10 strikeouts over seven shutout innings for the win.

“I feel really good with my performance,” said Anderson. “Dunkirk is a really good team. They’ve got a lot of good hitters, they have two really good pitchers and play tight defense, so it feels really good to come out with the win.”

Pokoj was handed a loss, despite holding the defending NYS Class C State Champions to just one run on seven hits, with just one walk and a strikeout.

“I definitely think this was one of our best games yet,” said Gilmour. “I am very proud of the girls. They played their hearts out.”

Despite the loss, Dunkirk now moves forward knowing it can compete with one of the top teams in New York State.

“This definitely boosts our confidence. We said at the beginning of the game that we wanted to make a statement, and after the game, even though we lost, I still feel like we made a statement. We showed we could play with the best,” Gilmour added.

Meanwhile, Chautauqua Lake is scheduled to have its rematch with Fredonia — who accounts for the only loss Chautauqua Lake has suffered this season — today in Mayville. If played as scheduled, the winner of the game will sit atop the standings in CCAA Division 1 West. However, the weather forecast leaves that matchup in doubt.

“(Thursday’s win) gives the team a lot of confidence and myself a lot of confidence,” said Anderson. “I’m excited to play Fredonia, if we can get it in. I’m excited to see where this season will take us.”

Regardless of what’s ahead for the Lady Thunderbirds, Thursday was a day Chautauqua Lake’s All-State pitcher will remember for quite some time.

Twitter: @bradencarmen