by Steve Bradley
HF 3 – Hudson 2
Thursday, May 19, at Hudson HS.
The HFCS softball team entered the sectional playoffs as the tenth, and lowest, seed. [private]In their first game, against number seven seeded Hudson, the Panthers pulled out an upset victory over the Blue Hawks, defeating them with a two out, three run, fourth inning rally.
After three scoreless inning where neither team sent more than four hitters to the plate, the Panthers came up in the top of the fourth beginning in the middle of the lineup. After the first two batters, there were two outs, both on fly balls. Then Stephanie Merwin got on with an error on the third baseman. Next batter Cecelia Vincent walked, then Breanna Schnakenberg walked, loading the bases. Top of the line-up batter Liz Ryan got on when the Hudson third baseman committed her second error of the inning, giving the Panthers one run and the bases still loaded. This put Maddy Atherton in the batter’s box and she delivered with a single, driving in two more runs. Ryan was thrown out at the plate by the third baseman for the third out.
It was the only scoring of the day by the Panthers, but it was enough. Hudson scored two runs in the fifth, but that was all they could come up with on this day because Panther pitcher Abby Philpott pitched a great game, striking out twelve while giving up four hits.
The Panthers hits were all singles with Sydney Miller and Mackenzie Ellis each hitting two while Ryan, Atherton, Philpott, and Vincent each had one. Hoosick Falls committed one error while Hudson committed three.
HF 0 – Ichabod Crane 14
Monday, May 22, at Ichabod Crane HS (Valatie). The tenth seeded Panthers were facing the second seeded Riders and on this day things didn’t start out well for the Panthers and went over a cliff from there. The Panthers were first up to bat and all three batters to step to the plate were sent back to the dugout after striking out. The Riders came up and the first batter struck out, which was good. Then the next seven batters to the plate ended up scoring, which was bad. By the time it was over, the Panthers had one hit, no runs and an ended season. The Ichabod Crane pitcher had 20 strikeouts, with every Panther contributing to that total. She struck out three batters in every inning but the sixth, where she struck out two and struck out three out of three batters in four innings. [/private]