The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Raiders fall to Thunder in nineinning game
Kenyon provides game-winning hit for Thunder in top of 9th
CANASTOTA >> Central Valley Academy catcher Sianna Kenyon took quite a beating in her nine innings behind the plate against Canastota on Tuesday, playing through a collision at home plate and a foul tip off of her bare hand on a cold and windy afternoon.
She used her bat to make sure there wouldn’t be a 10th inning.
The freshman lined a single to left field in the top of the ninth, scoring Jill Lindig from second with the RBI single to give the Thunder a 4-3 extra-innings road win.
“It’s hard but it’s always fun,” said Kenyon of playing a long game behind the plate. “They were really good and it was a close game. It was fun.”
Lindig pitched four strong innings of relief to earn the victory in the circle, getting out of a huge jam in the top of the eight to set up her catcher’s heroics. Canastota put runners on second and third with no outs but the junior pitcher got a pop-out to Kenyon on a bunt and two strikeouts to extend the game.
Lindig gave up two hits and struck out four to earn the victory.
Rhilea Chabot took the loss in the circle for Canastota, allowing four runs – two unearned.
The loss was the second
in two days for the Raiders, both coming in backand-forth games in which they took an early lead. Coach Chris Sgarlata’s young team fell to 1-5 on the season.
“We can’t hit when we’re needed to hit,” said Sgarlata. “We’re getting baserunners on, we just can’t hit when we need that hit. We’ll just keep practicing and plugging away.”
Canastota wasted no time taking a lead against CVA starter MaKayla Hoover. Brianna Johnson scored when Taylor Kutzuba reached on an error in the top of the first and Jade Shimer added an RBI single to score Kutzuba, staking Chabot to a 2- 0 advantage.
The Raiders missed chances to extend the lead in the second and third innings, leaving three runners in scoring position. CVA capitalized in the top of the fourth against Chabot, starting with a one- out double by Erika Maine. Shea Napoli brought her home with an RBI single two batters later before Erica Throp walked. Brooke Newtown then lined a ball off of the first baseman’s glove, scoring Napoli to tie the score at 2-2.
The Thunder capitalized on a leadoff walk by Jordyn Bishop to take its first lead in the top of the fifth. Linea Bush followed with a single and both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Lindig, who brought Bishop home with an RBI single. Lindig then stole second to put two runners in scoring position with no outs but Chabot limited the damage, retiring the next three batters to keep the score 3-2.
Chabot helped her own cause in the home half of the fifth, scoring Jessica Evans with an RBI single to even the score again.
CVA threatened again in the sixth but Chabot struck Lindig out with the bases loaded to keep the score squared at 3-3.
The score would stay tied into extra innings, with the Raiders looking like they were on the verge of a walk-off win in the eighth. Chabot led off with a double and Shimer reached on a bunt single and took advantage of nobody covering second base, advancing to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Lindig, however, retired the next three batters to keep the game going.
The junior then added to the offensive cause, reaching second on a twobase error. She took third on a groundout before Kenyon laced a single between shortstop and third, scoring Lindig with the winning run.
“It was a good, hard strike down the middle,” said Kenyon. “It was good.”
Lindig then returned to the circle and got grounders back to her for the first two outs before striking Evans out to end the game.
“(Lindig) was a little bit quicker and we couldn’t come around on it,” said Sgarlata. “We were just popping little popups and little grounders here and there. We just couldn’t move the runners over.
“(Lack of experience is) a lot of the problem. Last year we graduated six seniors and all of them were starters. We got big shoes to fill this year. We’re getting there though. We’ll get there.”