Plimpton leads South softball to wins

Whenever Chelsea Plimpton is on the mound, Williamsville South always has a chance to win a softball game. That was certainly the case in games played last week.

Plimpton opened the week by tossing a no-hitter and striking out 13 batters in a 1-0 win over Amherst on Tuesday, May 8 and ended the week by throwing her ninth career perfect game in South's 11-0 win as part of a doubleheader with Lake Shore on Friday, May 11. It was Plimpton's second perfect game of the season and ties her for most career perfect games thrown in a career in New York State. The win over Lake Shore was South's 58th straight over league opponents.

Plimpton continues to dominate with 235 strikeouts for the season. She has 99 career wins and will go for win 100 on Monday, May 14 against Hamburg but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press.

South opened the scoring against Lake Shore in the second inning. Carolyn Schaus reached base on a Lake Shore error, Devon Powers singled and Elena Hozdic singled to score two runs. A Lauren Falzone single produced a third run.

In the fourth, Nicolette Neenos reached on an error, Hozdic singled and a two-RBI single by Falzone scored two more runs for South. Ashley Aurillo and Robin Donovan combined for two hits to add another run in the sixth.

South scored five runs in the seventh on hits by Stephanie Shahin, Falzone, Lisa Fronczak, Sam Strapason and Powers.

Strapason was 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs. Falzone finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Hozdic was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Fronczak hit 2 for 5 with an RBI. Donovan (two RBIs), Schaus, Powers and Shahin each hit.

In the first game of the doubleheader, South scored 13 runs in the first three innings to lift the Lady Billies to a 15-0 win.

In the first, a Falzone single, a Claire Gerlach home run, a Fronczak single, a Plimpton single and a final hit by Strapason scored three runs.

South continued its hot bats in the second. Another single by Falzone, a Gerlach single, and a Fronczak two-RBI triple added three more runs to make the score 6-0.

South scored seven times in the third on a triple by Aurillo, a single by Fronczak, a double by Plimpton and a Strapason single. Aurillo and Plimpton scored in the fourth to end the scoring for South.

Fronczak hit 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs. Plimpton was 3 for 4 with a double, triple and two RBIs. Strapason hit 3 for 4. Gerlach was 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. Falzone was 2 for 2. Aurillo hit a triple for two RBIs. Hozdic singled.

Plimpton tossed a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts.

Against Amherst, South got more than it bargained for, needing to score in their last at-bats for a 1-0 victory.

In the team's first outing, Plimpton threw her eighth career perfect game as her teammates scored nine runs for her. This game was decided in the seventh. Schaus led off with a deep triple to left center field and scored on a clutch hit by Strapason. Other hits were provided by Fronczak (two singles), Donovan (single), and Powers (single).

Mollie Lang was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and Jessica Banning reached base in the fourth for Amherst's only runners on base. Banning tossed a seven-hitter and struck out two.

South's other game was an 8-3 road win at Transit Middle School over Williamsville East.

South scored four runs in the first. Falzone led off with a single and Fronczak and Plimpton also hit singles to load the bases. Schaus hit a long triple to left field to clear the bases and plate three RBIs. Schaus attempted to stretch it to a grand slam but was tagged out at home plate.

South struck in the fourth on a Strapason leadoff single followed by a Hozdic RBI single to move the score to 5-0.

South added three insurance runs in the sixth. Neenos led off with a triple, Falzone singled and Gerlach hit a two-run home run.

Falzone finished 3 for 4 with an RBI. Gerlach was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a home run. Plimpton hit 2 for 4 with a triple. Fronczak singled and Strapason, Neenos and Schaus (three RBIs) all tripled. Hodzic added a single.

Plimpton struck out 15 batters.

East scored a run in the bottom of the fifth. Chelsea Horne took a low pitch to deep right center for a home run. Karen Kingsley went to the mound for East in the fifth.

Sophomore Megan Ellers threw the last inning for East, giving up one hit and striking out two.

East scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Leadoff batter Jessica Windnagle reached first on an error and catcher Taylor Klun smacked a home run over the left fielder's head on a one-ball, two-strike count to plate two more runs.

Besides Hamburg, South (16-0, 11-0) hosts Clarence at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 17 before competing in the James "Ace" Morabito Memorial Invitational Softball Tournament on Saturday, May 19 in Conklin, N.Y. South will play at 1 p.m. against Susquehanna Valley of Section IV. Plimpton threw a perfect game against Susquehanna Valley at last year's tournament as South won 1-0. South went on to lose against Section I's Brewster, 2-0, in the semifinals. Brewster went on to win the tournament.