Revenge was sweet for the Williamsville East and Eden softball teams on Monday – and earning trips to the Far West Regionals was even sweeter.
The Flames remained undefeated with a 2-0 win over Iroquois in the Class A crossover game in the first game of a doubleheader at Williamsville North High School. In the nightcap, the Raiders started strong and never looked back in a 20-4 win over Olean in the Class B title game.
Summer Clark pitched a three-hit shutout and kept the high-powered Chiefs off-balance to get Williamsville East to the regionals for the second time in three years – and the second time ever.
A year ago, Iroquois beat East 6-2 en route to the Class A state championship game.
“After we lost last year it hurt,” Clark said. “We all worked hard over the winter to get back to this game. This was our revenge and it feels amazing.”
Williamsville East didn’t get much offense against the dynamic Iroquois pitching combo of Madison Hoeflich and Olivia Simon but they got just enough.
Eighth-grader Ella Wesolowski had the hit of the game, a run-scoring double in the first inning for the Flames, who got another in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk.
“With Summer pitching and the way we played defense,” two was certainly enough,” East coach Chris Durr said after his team moved to 24-0. “This was a game that the girls really wanted. It’s just amazing that we’ve been able to keep this run going.”
Williamsville East will face Section V champion Honeoye Falls Lima at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at SUNY Brockport in the Far West Regionals.
Iroquois finished the season at 19-3 and repeated as Class A-2 champ.
“Congrats to them, they’re a great softball team,” Iroquois coach Aaron Vanderlip said. “They deserve to be No. 1 in the state right now. We won 19 games this year; that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Class B
Eden scored eight runs in the top of the first against mistake-prone Olean and rolled in the Class B game.
“Right from the start, we wanted to win and we wanted to come out strong,” sophomore Marissa Calloway said. “We knew, obviously Olean’s a great team, but we wanted to come out stronger than them.”
The Huskies reached the state tournament last season and that included a 4-1 win over the Raiders in the Class B crossover game, also at Williamsville North.
Eden didn’t forget.
We were ready this time,” said junior Katie Zimmerman, who had a two-run triple to key the big first inning. “We just believed in ourselves and knew that we had it all along.
The Raiders loaded the bases on two walks and an error and then Kaitlyn Schmitz opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly. After another walk, Jordan Lauer had an RBI hit and Zimmerman followed with a shot to left to plate pair. Brooke Woodward and Lydia Kobie added RBI singles and then Calloway plated two more with a bloop single to left-center to score two more.
“The bats are getting hot at the right time,” Eden coach Alexis Nasca said after her team’s ninth win in its last 10 games. “They’re hitting the ball square and just passing the bat.”
Eden will play Waterloo at 3 p.m. Saturday at Brockport.
