H.S. SOFTBALL: Chatham wins Patroon crown, beats Maple Hill for second straight year

Emily Mesick earned the win on the mound for the Panthers and Wildcats’ pitcher Madison Camadine was tagged with the loss.

Mesick attacked the strike zone early in the contest, getting Maple Hill leadoff hitter Sydney Rogers to pop out behind the plate to catcher Olive Mountain. Then Olivia Mueller and Emma Dugan both popped out to Jordin Radley at second base as Mesick retired the side in order.

Camadine took to the mound in the bottom half and Addi Perry tried to bunt for a base hit but could not beat the throw to first. Anna Friedman hit a shallow fly ball that dropped into right field, just past the second baseman for the game’s first hit. She soon advanced to second on a wild pitch by Camadine. Olive Mountain got up and hit a soft liner caught by Mueller at second base and then Mesick popped out to short to end the frame.

With runners on the corners and nobody out in the top of the second, Maple Hill’s Kate Ackerman tried to steal second but was thrown out by Chatham catcher Olive Mountain. After a pop out to second by Sam Manning, Emily Coffey lined a base hit back up the middle, driving in the first run to put the Wildcats in front, 1-0.

Jordin Radley, Alaina Graziano, and Emily Scheriff all made contact for the Panthers in the bottom half of the second, but the ball never left the infield and they were retired one, two, three.

The Wildcats stayed ahead of the Panthers 1-0 going into the bottom of the third. Meta Mountain led off and grounded out to shortstop for the first out but then Rylie Barden beat out a grounder to short. Perry pulled a single into left field and then both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. Friedman dropped a bloop single into shallow right field and drove in one to tie the game, 1-1. Then on another wild pitch, Perry took off for the plate and scored as the flip to the pitcher covering tipped off her glove and the Panthers led 2-1.

Olive Mountain stepped in and chopped a ground ball to third and was thrown out but she moved the runner to third base. Mesick came up with a chance to help herself out and she did just that, lining an RBI single back up the middle and into center, making it 3-1 Chatham. 

Kate Brodzinski started off the Maple Hill fourth with a ground ball to third base that was bobbled and she reached the bag safely. Ackerman could not move her over on a fly out to center, but Manning laid down a bunt to move the runner to second base on a sacrifice. Coffey delivered a base hit to right to drive in the run and Maple Hill cut Chatham’s lead to 3-2.

Camadine came up and laced a ball into right-center for a long single and the Wildcats had runners on the corners again with two away. Luckily for the Panthers, Taylor Chapman grounded out to second base and they got out of the jam with the lead still intact.

The Panthers left two runners aboard in the fourth and then went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, failing to add insurance runs in the middle innings but they were still up by one going into the bottom of the sixth. With one away in the Panther sixth, Radley dropped a base hit into shallow right field to get the ball rolling. Then Graziano beat out a ball that was hit back to the mound but then bobbled.

Scheriff singled through the left side of the infield and the runners each moved up one bag to load the bases for Chatham with one out. Meta Mountain promptly drove in a pair as she batted a ball back up the middle for a base hit and the Panther lead was now 5-2.

Barden got in on the hit parade as well with an RBI single of her own, followed by a two-run double ripped down the third base line by Perry to make it 8-2 Chatham. After a groundout to short by Friedman, Perry came around to score on a wild pitch, pushing the lead to 9-2.

Olive Mountain reached on a pop up to shallow left that couldn’t be reached in time, and then Mesick slapped a single through the glove of the third baseman. Radley stepped into the box and singled to left herself, but the runner was thrown out at the plate trying to score to end the inning.

After a leadoff base hit into center field by Rogers, Mueller grounded out to short for out number one in the top of the seventh. Dugan kept the line moving with a base hit that dropped in fair territory near the line in left. However, Mesick struck out Brodzinski on a called strike three, and got Ackerman to pop out to the catcher Olive Mountain for the final out.

Chatham secured their second consecutive softball title in the Patroon Conference as they beat the Maple Hill Wildcats in the final, 9-2.

Panthers coach J.B. Brantley shared his thoughts on the state of the squad as Sectionals loom in the near future.

“Things came alive late for us, but sometimes you just got to grind it and things aren’t always going to be as smooth as they usually are,” Brantley said. “Kudos to Maple Hill, we played them back about two weeks ago and we did pretty well, and today we fought, battled, and it was a close game all the way through. Pat (coach Patrick Austin) is great and that team is well coached, and that young pitcher (Madison Camadine) battled today and she was effective against us.”

Chatham did suffer a couple losses earlier in the schedule to bigger schools in Saugerties and Troy that helped them refocus the small things that coach Brantley emphasizes.

“Sometimes a loss to a bigger school being something you can learn from isn’t the worst thing that could happen,” said Brantley. “We did talk about what we did, what we didn’t do, how we needed to execute and take care of the little things. Again, when you start playing these games getting tighter in Sectional-type play, you’ve got to take care of the small things that allow you to move forward.”

And the Panthers will certainly move forward on to Sectional play after the brackets are set following the Section 2 meeting this Monday as they look to survive and advance once the tournament is underway.