A pair of singles and a two-out walk loaded the bases for Chautauqua Lake senior slugger Lucy Gates, putting the pressure on Wolfpack pitcher Elli Bodamer to get out of the jam.

Bodamer was up to the challenge for a second straight playoff game, winning the battle as Gates grounded out to third base giving No. 6 Clymer/Sherman/Panama a 6-3 victory.

“You look at that lineup and there are no holes,” Wolfpack head coach Dave Bodamer said about ending the Chautauqua Lake rally. “That’s scary and just to buckle down and get the pitches where she needed it, that kind of thing. The defense was behind her today, there was a lot of confidence. You know it was going to come down to the wire, extra innings would not have been a surprise at all. Kudos to her, another senior stepping up and coming through.”

No. 3 Chautauqua Lake had fallen behind the Wolfpack in the first, third and seventh innings, but the final time was too much to overcome as the defending sectional champions fell in the quarterfinals.

OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms Chautauqua Lake pitcher Macy Ulsh delivers to the plate during Thursday’s Class C quarterfinal in Mayville.

“Resilient is a perfect word to describe this group,” Chautauqua Lake head coach Katie Yudin stated. “I had no doubt that was how that last inning was going to go, they weren’t going to go down without a fight. Hats off to them, they put the ball in play when they needed to, they took advantage of runners in scoring position, they got bunts. All around they did a nice job so you have got to give credit over there, but our girls definitely didn’t go down without a fight.”

It was the second playoff game in a row that Clymer/Sherman/Panama pulled out a win in the final inning, but this time the Wolfpack bats came alive.

“I really think that week off was tough for everybody,” Bodamer said about the beginning of the playoffs. “Her motion versus this motion was a little different that we don’t see a whole lot, it threw our timing off a bit. But we had a good practice in the cage yesterday, I just think they showed up today focused and ready to go.”

The Wolfpack offense struck in the top of the first inning against the Eagles with Bodamer connecting on a two-out triple and then getting knocked home by Caylee Pinzok for the 1-0 lead.

Chautauqua Lake immediately answered with leadoff batter Macy Ulsh evening the score in the bottom of the first, setting the tone for a highly contested matchup.

OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s Kiera Loberg is congratulated by third base coach Frank Lewczyk after hitting the go-head two RBI double in the top of the seventh inning against Chautauqua Lake in the Section VI Class C quarterfinals on Thursday in Mayville.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama took the lead again in the third inning when senior Kiera Loberg cashed in with two outs, driving a pair of runs for a 3-1 lead.

That lead held for an inning, but in the fourth the Eagles had a little two-out magic of their own. After a leadoff single by Lucy Ulsh, Bodamer managed to strike out the next two batters, but Jill Miller and Karagan Fairbank were ready in their second visits to the plate.

The senior Miller smacked a single to left field, but an error allowed the ball to reach the fence and Miller reached third with the deficit at 3-2. Fairbank switched spots with Miller as she clobbered a triple to the gap and evened the score at 3-3 before Bodamer allowed any further damage.

“We didn’t get the bats going soon enough,” Yudin said about her team. “We weren’t consistent throughout the whole game, we waited too long to get the bats going and I think that was part of the issue. Hats off to Elli, she pitched an incredible game, they made a lot of adjustments since the last time we faced them. She pitched outside a lot more, hit her spots and really got the job done there.”

Bodamer finished the game with eight strikeouts, seven hits allowed and two walks, while Macy Ulsh struck out seven, walked four and gave up 11 hits for the Eagles.

It looked like the two Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 foes were headed for extras, but in the top of the seventh the heart of the Wolfpack lineup had other plans.

Bodamer began the inning with a walk and her courtesy runner Baylee White was moved into scoring position by a sacrifice bunt. Things became very tough for freshman pitcher Macy Ulsh as a fielding error put runners on the corners and a defensive indifference had a pair in scoring position.

Loberg again stepped up in a crucial moment and came through for the Wolfpack with a towering double that made it to the left field wall and scored both runs for a 5-3 lead.

“It was huge,” Bodamer said about Loberg. “She didn’t play last year as a junior, but came through for a senior moment. She is an athlete, she knows how to be successful, she helped us offensively and put us on her back a little bit. This is something we haven’t done a ton of throughout the season, we left too many girls in scoring position and tonight we got the hits.”

Loberg was caught going home on a fielder’s choice in the next at-bat, but reaching safely Alyssa Pratt would still make the Eagles pay as she scored after consecutive singles by Keira Kinal and Harleigh Faulkner.

“This will definitely stick with them for a while,” Yudin said about the loss. “This one hurt and I think with them being so young and they’re not used to losing in the quarterfinals since most of them have been with me for the last three years. This one definitely hurt and hopefully in the future they will look back on this and remember this.”

Chautauqua Lake did not go quietly in the bottom of the seventh inning, even getting the game-winning run to the plate. However, the Wolfpack showed how difficult it is to beat the same team three times in a season as they stopped the Chautauqua Lake rally and continued their season into the Class C semifinals against No. 2 Barker on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

“It just keeps getting harder,” Bodamer said about the playoffs. “I think Section VI, for most sports, but softball has to be one of the best in the state. If you win sections here I think you set yourself up to make a run and it’s not going to get any easier, that’s for sure.”