The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Solvay ace stumps Oneida in Class B final
Senior fans 17 in one-hit shutout
SYRACUSE » Against most pitchers, the Oneida softball team wouldn’t be concerned with a one-run deficit after the first inning.
Solvay’s Lauren Nichols isn’t most pitchers.
The Bearcats senior continued her dominant run through the Section III Class B tournament, striking out 17 in a onehit shutout for the No. 1 seed in a 2-0 victory in Tuesday’s final.
“She made us look clueless tonight,” said Oneida coach Mike Curro. “We’re trying to discuss it and make changes but we couldn’t make any changes. She just, she really is the real deal. We knew that going in but we thought we’d be able to barrel her up here and there.”
Nichols, who hasn’t allowed a run in the postseason for No. 2 state-ranked Solvay, only allowed three baserunners over seven innings and only one of the three advanced to second base. Even when Oneida’s players did make contact, they couldn’t hit anything hard and didn’t hit a ball to the outfield during the game.
Oneida’s pitching staff was impressive as well in defeat. Sophomore Kyra Shlotzhauer tossed five strong innings, allowing two runs – one earned – on three hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Senior Kylie Chesebro tossed a perfect inning of relief in the bottom of the sixth for the No. 2 seed.
“Kyra and Kylie have been
outstanding all year,” said Curro. “(Kyra) threw well, mixed speeds well. Kylie came in and threw well, mixed speeds well. What I’m losing is the one-two punch we’ve had for three or four years now and that’s going to be a different beast. Kyra’s going to have to run the ship now.”
Oneida struck out three times in the first inning but looked like they could possibly find some success against Nichols, getting an infield single from Hannah Begay with two outs. It would turn out, however, to be the only hit for the No. 2 seed.
Nichols helped her own cause for the top seed in the bottom of the first, scoring the only run she would need in the circle. The senior pitcher worked a two- out walk and ad- vanced to second on a wild pitch to Caitlin McCann, who hit a ground ball back to Shlotzhauer in the circle. Her throw to first was high and Chesebro couldn’t corral it. Nichols capitalized on the error, racing home with the game’s first run.
Nichols rolled through the next two innings, striking out seven batters because of a dropped third strike. Sydney Lusher reached first on that play and advanced to second on a wild pitch to Lauren Skibitski, giving Oneida its only runner in scoring position of the game. Nichols stranded her there, striking out the next two batters to end the inning.
Oneida’s only other baserunner came in the top of the fifth when Kaylin Curro walked as a pinchhitter with two outs but Nichols naturally got out of the inning with a strikeout.
The Bearcats tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth. Hope Riviera led off with a single against Shlotzhauer before Jordan Bamba reached on a fielder’s choice. No. 9 hitter Aleah Yaizzo followed with the hardest hit ball of the game, driving a shot to the right- center field gap. Lusher almost tracked the deep line drive down but the ball glanced off the top of her glove, rolling to the wall for an RBI triple. Shlotzhauer got a big strikeout before a groundout back to the circle to limit the damage to just the one run.
The two runs, however, weremore than enough for Nichols, who retired the final seven batters she faced – and even broke a bat on a soft Skibitski lineout – to close out the championship game victory.
Although the loss stung for Curro and his players, especially his seniors, he was happy with the season as a whole and has high hopes for the future of the program that was competing in its sixth straight sectional final.
“I c ont empl a t ed whether I wanted to come back to this program be- cause coaching’s tougher and tougher every year,” he said. “There’s just a battle. There’s so much entitlement with the youth of today. This group has saved me. I can’t wait to get back. I’m actually excited for next year. We’re going to lose some super seniors who’ve done a wonderful job and I love them to death. They’re outstanding. But we’ve got kids that are going to step up and rise, just like kids did this year. So I think we can put it together again, make another run and see maybe if we can come out on top.
“But if we run into that type of pitching we’re going to have trouble every time. She is that good.”