Charlotte Valley wins 2nd straight Delaware League title
May 9—Constant contact and a pair of huge innings propelled the Charlotte Valley softball team its second consecutive Delaware League title Thursday at Neahwa Park in Oneonta.
The Wildcats batted around twice and scored five runs in the third inning and 10 runs in the sixth to beat Roxbury/Gilboa 18-9.
"We were putting the ball in play, and that's important, to make the other team make plays," Charlotte Valley coach Cheryl Butler said. "That's what you gotta do and I think that's what we did."
Brinlee Wright tallied three hits, four RBI and four runs scored while Claire Clark doubled, singled and drove in two. Lila Waid doubled, singled and had three RBI and Natalie Amadon, Josie Butler and Jessica Zuill each had two hits in the win.
Wright earned the win in the circle, striking out seven over seven innings.
"Brinlee did well, she throws strikes," Butler said of Wright. "This team hits well, so we weren't expecting a lot of strikeouts, just expecting her to throw some strikes and have them put the ball in play."
Ryleigh Goodchild doubled and singled for R/G, Olivia Ross doubled and Ivory Biruk had a pair of hits in the loss.
Mikayla Wright struck out three over five and one-thirds innings for R/G.
Wright sat down R/G in order in the top of the first before scoring on a pair of errors and stolen bases in the bottom half to give Charlotte Valley an early 1-0 lead.
Neither team would score again until the third inning.
Goodchild doubled to lead off the top half and Biruk walked before they both came around to score on sacrifices from Bailey Hughes and Mikayla Wright to take a 2-1 lead.
The Wildcats made two quick outs in the bottom half before exploding for five runs in response, capped by a two-run single from Waid following RBIs from Wright, Butler and Abby Vroman to take a 6-2 lead.
Kailey Whitbeck singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth and would come around to score and extend the Charlotte Valley lead to 7-2.
Biruk singled and scored on a double from Ross in the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 7-3 before Vroman singled and scored to make it 8-3 in the bottom of the fifth.
Charlotte Valley sent 14 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and all but put the game away with 10 runs to make it 18-3.
R/G wouldn't go down without a fight, however, as they also batted around and scored six runs in the seventh inning, but ultimately Wright was able to close the game out and take home the Delaware League title.
"I feel like we just kind've closed out the season how it should be closed out and we're pretty excited," Butler said. "I think we're going to be the two or three seed, so we'll have at least a home game heading into sectionals, so we're looking forward to that."
Charlotte Valley 18, Roxbury/Gilboa 9
R/G ... 002 010 6 — 9 10 3
CV ... 105 11(10) X — 18 15 2
R/G: Mikayla Wright (L), Olivia Ross (6) and Bailey Hughes
CV: Brinlee Wright (W)
2B: Claire Clark (CV), Lila Waid (CV), Ryleigh Goodchild (R/G), Olivia Ross (R/G)
