The rest of the afternoon, not many players missed a turn crossing the plate, as a total of 29 runs were scored in a 17-12 Fredonia victory in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West action between rivals at Dunkirk High School.

Fredonia (3-1, 3-0) loaded the bases in the top of the first inning, but Dunkirk’s Angelina Piede got out of trouble and left the bases loaded with a strikeout to end the frame. Piede then helped her own cause in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff single, and she eventually came around to score on a wild pitch for the game’s first run.

Although Fredonia missed out on scoring in the first inning, the Hillbillies more than made up for it over the next three innings. Sophia Gullo led off the top of the second inning with a single, then Danielle Palisin followed with a single of her own. Callie Draggett later ripped a double off the wall in center field to score Fredonia’s first run of the game. Two more runs scored in the inning on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.

“We’re starting to get contributions up and down the lineup. The top five (in our order) were all on the team last year, but recently the girls at the bottom have pulled their weight too, which is nice,” Fredonia head coach Jesse Beers said. “When you’re strong 1-9, you’re not going to throw up too many goose eggs.”

Fredonia pitcher Jordan Lucas delivers a pitch during Friday’s CCAA West 1 softball game against Dunkirk at Dunkirk High School. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

As nice as a three-run inning was for Fredonia, the Hillbillies doubled it in the next inning, as six runs crossed the plate. Fredonia got its first run of the inning without a ball leaving the infield, but Draggett broke the game open with another blistering double to center field to extend the lead to 6-1. Three unearned runs came across later in the inning to make the score 9-1 going to the bottom of the third inning.

Fredonia continued to pour it on, as the defending Section VI Class B2 champions followed their six-run third inning with six more runs in the fourth inning. Fredonia managed four hits in the inning, including an RBI single by Palisin and a two-run double off the top of the fence in center field by Jaelyn Davis. Her near-home run put Fredonia ahead 15-2.

Not often does a game as lopsided as 15-2 in the fourth inning wind up a stressful ordeal for the team in the lead, but Dunkirk (1-3, 0-3) put pressure on Fredonia throughout the later innings of the contest to make the Hillbillies work for the victory. A pair of runs crossed the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning for Dunkirk, then in the fifth inning, the Marauders kept the momentum rolling.

“There’s a lot of talent on our team. We always seem to have one or two bad innings and we fall behind. All we need to do is clean up those one or two innings and we’re going to be a tough team to beat,” said Dunkirk head coach Sal Flores. “Once we clean up, we’re going to clean house.”

Dunkirk entered the bottom of the fifth inning down 15-4. After three straight batters reached base with one out, Beers elected to pull Fredonia starting pitcher Jordan Lucas in favor of Palisin.

Dunkirk’s Alyssa Salerno prepares to swing at a pitch during a CCAA West 1 softball game against Fredonia on Friday at Dunkirk High School. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

“Their pitcher (Lucas) is one of the best pitchers in Western New York and we knocked her out of the game. You can’t ask for anything better from our group of girls,” Flores said.

“There’s no quit, there’s fight to the end in them. I’m very proud of the way they played, and I’m very proud of the way they fight,” Flores added.

Dunkirk’s Alyssa Salerno greeted Palisin with a single to score a run, which made the score 15-5. Then, Emily Pacheco placed the ball just beyond the outstretched glove of Gullo to score a run and extend the game. Dunkirk added two more runs that inning, as the game advanced to the sixth inning.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to Dunkirk. They’ve got some kids that can stick, and it’s really easy to roll over when you’re down 15-2, but those girls kept digging and kept clawing. Good for them,” Beers said.

Gullo responded with a two-out, two-run double to extend Fredonia’s lead back to nine runs, 17-8. However, Dunkirk punched back with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, including a two-run double by Courtney Zatorski.

“It’s a Dunkirk-Fredonia game. It’s always fun. Both teams come out to play, and they showed it,” Flores said.

Dunkirk managed two base runners in the seventh inning, but could not plate another run as the contest ended just less than two-and-a-half hours after it began.

“They say there’s no such thing as an ugly win, but I don’t know, I thought that was pretty ugly — especially the last few innings,” said Beers.

Lucas was the winning pitcher for Fredonia, despite allowing six runs in less than five innings of work.

“The turnover from last year … we lost eight kids from last year’s team. Granted, it’s Fredonia softball, but for a lot of these kids it’s the first varsity action that they’ve seen. There’s going to be some of these growing pains, especially early in the season,” Beers said. ” … But there’s a lot of talent over here, it’s just a matter of we’re trying to find the right combination.”

Fredonia managed 14 hits in the victory, led by four hits by Gullo and two doubles from Draggett. Davis, Palisin and Jenna Truby also each had two hits.

Zatorski led Dunkirk with three RBIs, while Salerno and Pacheco each drove in a pair. All three had two hits in the game, as did Piede and Brooke Szymczak.

Kassidy Donisi finished the game in the circle for Dunkirk by allowing two runs over the final three innings.