East softball advances to Class A quarterfinals

Williamsville East is three games away from winning a Section VI Class A softball championship.

East (14-6) won its prequarterfinal game over twelfth-seed Albion, 7-0, at home on Thursday, May 24.

The Lady Flames, seeded fifth, played at fourth-seed Dunkirk on Tuesday, May 29 in a quarterfinal game but the result was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Kelly Rusin started on the mound for East and kept the Albion batters off the bases. Albion's first hit was a ball hit in right center field in the top of the fifth inning. Bridget Steele chased the ball down and relayed a long throw to Jessica Windnagle, who threw it to Rachelle Arenos at third base to get the runner out. Rusin went five innings with six strikeouts and gave up just one hit. Karen Kingsley came in relief to throw two innings of one-hit ball.

East scored one run in the first inning. Steele was sacrificed to second by Courtney Rung, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored after a ground ball hit to third was not played cleanly and Chelsea Horne was safe at first.

The Lady Flames added a run in the fifth when Rusin singled and raced home after the ball got away from the left fielder.

East coach Ron Schumacher said his team had difficulty hitting Albion's freshman pitcher but that changed in the sixth. Horne doubled home two runs and Windnagle singled in another run. Arenos was safe at first on a fielder's choice forcing Windnagle. Arenos moved her to second on a Rusin single and stole third. Kingsley hit a fly ball to left center field that was dropped to score Arenos for East's seventh run.

Rusin went 2 for 3 with a RBI. Horne was 1 for 3 with two RBIs.

In non-league games earlier in the week, East defeated Sweet Home, 6-3, on Monday, May 21 and shut out Tonawanda, 13-0, on Wednesday, May 23.

Against Sweet Home, Horne singled in the second and moved to second base on a sacrifice fly by Ally Kotz. Horne moved to third on a groundout and scored on an infield error.

In the third, Taylor Klun hit a home run to left center. Horne followed with a triple to the same gap and scored on a passed ball. Kotz, Arenos, and Rusin singled and Kotz scored.

In the fourth, Rung singled and moved to second on a throwing error on a hit by Windnagle. A ground ball scored Rung and a groundout by Kotz scored Windnagle.

Trailing 6-0, Sweet Home scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh. An error at second base and a couple of singles and stolen bases plated three runs. Three East pitchers scattered five hits. East's starting defense played well, said Schumacher. East batters had 12 hits.

At Tonawanda, Steele singled and stole second, Rung sacrificed her to third and Kotz sacrificed her home for an early run.

Three East runs were scored in the third. Steele singled and moved to second on a Rung sacrifice. Kotz safely reached first on an error and Steele scored on a Klun single. Horne singled home Kotz and Arenos singled in Klun.

In the fourth, Steele and Kotz singled, Rung got on with an error, and Klun walked to score a run. Horne was safe on a fielder's choice (Rung forced out) to score another. Arenos singled home a pair of runners.

In the fifth, relief pitcher Megan Allers and Steele are safe on errors and Klun tripled to plate both.

East scored three more times in the seventh on two singles, a triple, and two errors.

For the game, East batters had 14 hits and played errorless ball. Klun went 3 for 4 with four RBIs and Steele was 4 for 5 and scored five times. Arenos went 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

Kingsley pitched four innings of two-hit ball and Ellers threw three innings and allowed one hit.

East's other non-league game was a 5-1 home loss to Kenmore West on Tuesday, May 22. East scored twice in the third from a Rung home run to right center that also plated Steele, who singled.

Schumacher thought despite giving up five runs to Kenmore West, the No. 2 ranked team in Western New York, his team played well defensively.

"A couple of errors, mostly due to nerves, gave Kenmore West two unearned runs," said Schumacher.