Holding a 3-1 lead, Chautauqua Lake’s Kinslee Motter reached home and the Eagles put two more runners in scoring position with two outs — Rhinehart was in a jam.

Falconer head coach Kayleigh Sieber was going to let Rhinehart close her game, but a cut on her hand forced the switch in the circle. Taking over for what Falconer hoped was just one batter was sophomore Hannah Melquist.

Melquist did exactly what she needed to do, putting Alexis Delcamp down on strikes to secure the first win of the season for the Golden Falcons 3-2 in nonleague action.

“My plan was to ride Emily Rhinehart out and really give her that close,” Sieber said about the pitching change. “The way I see it is that it’s all a challenge, I like that they actually made it hard for us in some challenging situations. However, she actually had a cut on her hand and was bleeding so we had to make the pitching change. We had to bring Hannah in and there is literally ice in her veins, she is someone you can put her in on the spot when she hasn’t thrown in three days and she’s going to hit the strike zone. I’m so impressed with her and her ability to stay calm and be able to get the job done.”

Chautauqua Lake third baseman Lucy Gates tags out Falconer’s Katrina Schrantz diving toward the bag during Tuesday’s nonleague game in Falconer. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

It was not the first jam Falconer worked itself out of as Rhinehart performed her own damage control in the top of the first by stranding the bases loaded while giving up only one run in the frame.

Jill Miller began the game with a big crack of the bat sending the ball into center field for a single, but an error allowed the ball to roll to the wall and Miller made her way to third. A wild pitch scored Miller and Rhinehart recorded the next two strikeouts, but a Lucy Gates double followed by a pair of walks put the pressure on. That did not faze Rhinehart, who punched out probably the most important of her nine strikeouts on the day.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Emily Rhinehart, she has come so so far,” Sieber stated. “She is very mentally tough and she’s definitely very stoic out there. It doesn’t really rattle her to have somebody make good contact, she trusts the defense. Once she really gets the ball spinning and it’s really working the way she wants to, she’s really unstoppable and I really think not only is she a great pitcher hitting her spots, she plays great defense out of the circle too.”

Rhinehart’s day culminated with the nine strikeouts, seven walks, three hits and just one earned run for the win.

Chautauqua Lake nearly matched Rhinehart’s impressive day in the circle, but this was the first time in a while it was not done by NCAA Division I, Canisius University pitcher Olivia Herrington.

Junior Cayzlee Johnson looks to fill Herrington’s shoes in the circle and against a strong Falconer lineup she had a good first outing. Johnson pitched the whole game, giving up just one earned run on four hits and a walk while striking out seven batters.

“Cayzlee is a fantastic pitcher coming in behind Olivia,” stated Chautauqua Lake head coach Katie Yudin. “She’s going to throw hard, she did her job today, I can’t ask much more of her. She had some strikeouts, she kept the ball on the ground for the most part and I mean overall she did a nice job.”

Johnson is not the only person filling big shoes at Chautauqua Lake as it was Yudin’s first game as head coach taking over for Sue Teets after 20 years that included a state championship.

“I think being so young and just having one senior it’s going to be fun watching them grow,” Yudin added about her team. “They’re really competitive and a fun group to be around, so I’m just happy to be here and excited to take over the program. Sue led a great program here, so I’m excited to take it over and hopefully continue on what she did.”

Chautauqua Lake came out hungry for a win in Yudin’s debut, but aggressive baserunning allowed Falconer to secure the win.

The Golden Falcons first run entered the basepaths after a dropped third strike to start the bottom of the second. Melquist then made it all the way to third on a sacrifice bunt by Nazariah Neal and she scored on a RBI groundout by Nylah Sharpe. Katrina Schrantz connected for a double, but the aggressive baserunning got her out on a play at third.

“I really push the envelope with the baserunning,” Sieber said about the offense. “That’s something that’s really important to me as a coach, I follow Patty Gasso from OU (Oklahoma University) really closely and she has a lot of policies on her baserunning, like as soon as you make contact with the ball you become a baserunner. You can’t watch the ball, you can’t track it down while you’re running, you’ve got to be aggressive and thinking the next base. I’m always pushing them, sometimes a little too hard, I get a little hyped up and really try to give them the business to keep them on the gas pedal, but we try to take as many extra bases as possible.”

Then in the bottom of the fourth inning, Angelina Fiasco led off with a single to left field before being sacrificed into scoring position by Mylie Zaranek. The sacrifice was followed up by a RBI single from Emily Zaranek to take the lead at 2-1, but a play at the plate allowed her to reach second and with the ball reaching the backstop her eyes were set on third where another bad throw sent Zaranek home with a 3-1 Falconer lead.

Zaranek’s hit proved to be Falconer’s last, but that’s all the Golden Falcons needed to begin the year with a 3-2 win.

“I really loved the way that they responded today and I love picking up these difficult nonleague games,” Sieber added. “I think it really challenges us and really gets us prepared early in the season for playoffs. I love that we were able to keep both sides separate, if we struggled at the plate we went out and played tough defense.”