Shaker cruises into state semis
Shaker won the coin toss. They could have been the home team. They could have batted second, an undeniable advantage. But Shaker had gotten this far — winning the Section II title as the No. 5 seed — without those advantages. They chose to be the road team. And for the third straight game, the road team won.
The Blue Bison beat Cicero-North Syracuse 8-1, scoring half those runs in the first inning. The strategy paid off.
The victory advances Shaker to next week’s Class AA state final four to be played at Moreau Rec. Their opponent will be the winner of Section IV Binghamton or Section I Yorktown.
“I’m sure a couple people would
think we were crazy,” head coach Kristen Calahan said. “I asked the captains. They wanted to be away, we’ve been away the whole postseason. It’s been awesome to come out and score some runs.”
That was the formula on a sunny but windy Friday afternoon in central New York. Alissa Folts led off the game with a triple. Bella Spadinger drove her home. Kelsey Wells brought in another. Then Shannon Bloodgood made it 3-0. Lexi Ratigan brought the score to 4-0 before the top of the first inning was over. The road team gave pitcher Allie Lajeunesse a lead. Then she held onto it.
The senior pitched all seven innings, allowing just one run. She only really faced trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Aside from that, it was smooth sailing. And it was due in large part to her hitters scoring early runs. Folts, the first batter of the game, saw the defense move in during the first at-bat. She told herself she needed to crush the ball. And she did into the gap.
“I think that helped a lot,” Folts said. “We started off hitting well. We know we needed to come out on top with runs. We wanted to come out and make it so they couldn’t score.”
C-NS pulled their starter midway through the first inning. The replacement helped limit the Blue Bisons. But the damage was already done.
Shaker got its biggest break of the game in the fourth inning. C-NS had cut it to 6-1, and had two runners on. A ball hit into the gap appeared as though it would score two runs, but the runner on first base left too early. It was an automatic out and the inning ended right there. Calahan said after the game that it was a great call.
“So many kids stepped up today,” Calahan said. “Our seniors have been leading us. So many kids. Especially our bottom of the order today. We needed them to step up and they did.”
A year ago, Shaker was the No. 1 seed in Section II. They lost that year in the quarterfinals to Guilderland. This year, as the unheralded underdog, they made a magical run. Now they’ll get to play in South Glens Falls a week from Saturday at 9 a.m. It’s the first time in 15 years that they made the New York State tournament. Now, they’re playing with house money. And they’re not only the underdog, they’re asking for the road team label.
“We work so hard all season,” Spadinger said. “Me, Allie and Alissa, we’ve been together since we were like 10. It’s awesome just to have this experience with them. To be in this spot . ... I’m really excited to see what comes next.”