'Let's go all the way': Section V softball teams prepare for regionals against Section VI
Some Section V softball squads are more familiar than others to the Far West Regional round against Section VI's champions.
Take Webster Thomas for instance. Coach Emily Castro's Titans won their first section championship since 2009. However, the program has never won a region final. In 2005, Webster Thomas lost to Section VI power Kenmore West. Prior to that in 2001, before the Thomas and Schroeder split, Webster fell to Lancaster 5-4 after a seventh-inning rally fell short.
The Titans' crosstown rival Webster Schroeder Warriors went all the way in winning the Class A state championship in 2022. Webster Thomas junior pitcher Maddie Hicks believes her Titans can "go all the way" this spring, especially after their performances in wins over Greece Arcadia, Bishop Kearney, Irondequoit and Honeoye Falls-Lima in the Section V tournament.
"We were all coming off of the incredible win on Saturday against Irondequoit, and we just wanted to pick up where we left off," Hicks said after defeating HF-L in Tuesday's Section V Class A final. "Everybody came in (with) high intensity. During warmups everybody's like, 'Let's go out and let's do this thing. Let's go all the way, and let's do it.'"
More: Section V softball scores for the 2023 season
Friendship/Scio coach Deb Warner's three-time Section V champion Golden Eagles won a 2022 regional title on its way to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association semifinals. Wellsville coach Matt Burke also returns his Lions to regionals in hopes of avenging last year's loss. Rush-Henrietta coach Lynn Rotola's Royal Comets, the No. 2-ranked Class AA team in the state, won the program's first section title and will make their regional debut Saturday.
Bolivar-Richburg coach Brooke Lovell's Wolverines are Section V's lone program remaining this year's postseason that has ever won a state title, winning the Class C crown back in 2006.
Far West Regionals
Friday at Gowanda
Class C
Bolivar-Richburg (18-2) vs. Gowanda (15-6), 5 p.m.
Malayna Ayers homered in Tuesday's crossover final win against Addison.
Class D
Friendship/Scio (17-3) vs. Westfield (20-1), 7 p.m.
Nevaeh Ross one-hit Batavia Notre Dame in Tuesday's crossover final.
Saturday at Webster Schroeder
Class AA
Rush-Henrietta (19-4) vs. Clarence (14-6), 11 a.m.
Elizabeth Gleghorn's ninth-inning walk-off hit clinched the Royal Comets' first Section V title last weekend.
More: Walk-off hit lifts Rush-Henrietta to its first-ever title Section V softball title
Class B
Wellsville (20-1) vs. Iroquois (13-7), 1:30 p.m.
The Lions are riding a 14-game winning streak into regionals.
Class A
Webster Thomas (17-7) vs. Williamsville East (17-5), 4 p.m.
Anna Bello hit a homer and Maddie Hicks struck out eight against HF-L.
Winners advance
Each region champion will advance to the NYSPHSAA Softball Championship tournament, which will take place Friday, June 9 at the Moriches Athletic Complex on Long Island. Semifinal winners advance to the finals on Saturday, June 10.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Section V softball: Previews, schedule for state regional round
