South softball wins fifth straight Wildcat tourney

Kurzanski, Stephanie Shahin; back row - coach Al Monaco, Sam Strapason, Elena Hozdic, Claire Gerlach, Devon Powers, coach Roy Ciarmella, Robin Donovan, Ashley Aurilo, Nicolette Neenos, coach Gerry Gentner and Matt Monaco.

Williamsville South shut out Clarence, 6-0, in the Bracket A final to earn its fifth straight Wildcat Invitational Softball Tournament title. The tournament was held on Saturday, May 5 at Walden Pond in Lancaster.

South opened the scoring in the title game early when Robin Donovan scored on an error. The Lady Billies added three runs in the third. With two outs, Chelsea Plimpton walked, Clarence committed an error and Sam Strapason, Donovan and Devon Powers plated three runs.

South's final two runs came in the fourth on a single by Plimpton and a triple by Carolyn Schaus to right center field. A double and single in the sixth inning by all-tournament selection Lisa Fronczak and tournament MVP Plimpton left several runners on base. Stephanie Shahin added a final hit for South. Fronczak finished with a single and double. Nicolette Neenos also hit.

A ball passes Williamsville South's Elena Hozdic as Williamsville North's Kayleigh Galliher advances to another base during quarterfinal action of the Wildcats Invitational Softball Tournament. South won 3-1 in eight innings. Photo by Joe Eberle Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Plimpton had two hits at the plate and fired a four-hitter and struck out 13 on the mound to improve to 12-0.

To advance to the final, South had to win hard-fought games over Class AA schools, Williamsville North, 3-1, in eight innings, in the quarterfinals and Frontier, 2-1, in the semifinals.

The South-North game turned into a pitcher's duel between Plimpton, an All-American, and North eighth grader Robin Kennery.

North took the lead in the fifth when they scored on a Kennery double.

South tied it at 1-1 in the sixth when Lauren Falzone led off with a single and eventually scored.

Tied after seven innings the game was decided by international tie breaker rule.

South batted first and scored twice with the winning run scored by eighth grader Kyle Plimpton and an insurance run by senior Elena Hozdic, who reached first base on a bunt single. Other hits came from Fronczak, Donovan, and Powers. Plimpton struck out 16.

It didn't get any easier against Frontier. In the third, Falzone led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second by a Claire Gerlach sacrifice and scored on a Fronczak single.

Frontier tied the score in the sixth on a double and single. In the bottom of the sixth, Plimpton led off with a booming shot to left center field for a double but South was unable to score. Strapason also singled in the inning.

With the game tied at 1-1, Fronczak ripped a two-out single to score Falzone.

Plimpton threw a four-hitter and struck out 14.

Fronczak finished the tournament hitting .500 and passed 2003 South graduate Caitlin Lever for second all-time for most hits in school history. Donovan was 2 for 4 (.500), Powers was 3 for 7 (.428) and Plimpton hit 3 for 8 (.375).

In ECIC Division II games, South remained undefeated at 7-0 with shutout victories over Amherst, 9-0, on Monday, April 30, Iroquois, 4-0, on Wednesday, May 2, and West Seneca East, 3-0, on Thursday, May 3.

Plimpton tossed a perfect game against Amherst. It was her eighth of her career, placing her second in New York State. She struck out 18 Amherst batters. Amherst only got the ball in play three times.

South scored all of the runs it would need against Amherst with in the first with five. Falzone led off with a single followed by hits from Fronczak, Plimpton, a base on balls by Schaus and a single by Strapason.

South added three more runs in the fifth on singles by Plimpton, Strapason and doubles by Powers and Donovan. Powers and Donovan each finished with three RBIs each.

Plimpton finished 3 for 4 with a double. Strapason, Powers, and Fronczak each were 2 for 4 with a double. Powers also had three RBIs. Falzone also contributed three RBIs.

Amherst's Jessica Banning threw a seven-hitter with eight strikeouts. Two of her runs were unearned.

South struck against West Seneca East with two runs in the second on a one-out single by Strapason, a walk to Powers and several West Seneca East errors to take a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Strapason reached first on an error and later scored on a Falzone single.

Defensively, Plimpton tossed a two-hitter and struck out 13.

South scored three runs in the third versus Iroquois when Falzone reached first on an error and later scored on a double by Donovan, a Gerlach single and an Iroquois error.

The final run of the game was scored in the sixth on hits by Strapason and Neenos.

Donovan had two hits and Gerlach, Fronczak, Strapason, and Neenos all contributed one hit each. Plimpton threw a one-hitter and struck out 11.

South, ranked No. 1 in Western New York, played Amherst on Tuesday, May 8 but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. They play Williamsville East at Transit Middle School at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 9 and are home against Lake Shore at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 11.