SECTION IV SOFTBALL: OWEGO FALLS IN CLASS B QUARTERS; CRAWFORD SURPASSES 100 Ks (2023-05-22)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CONKLIN — Owego freshman Carsten Crawford surpassed 100 strikeouts Monday, but the sixth-seeded Indians fell to No. 3 Susquehanna Valley, 5-3, in the Section IV Class B quarterfinals.

She recorded two strikeouts, giving her 101.

“Once again, Car pitched a great game,” Owego coach Elise Fortier said. “We had a few defensive miscues behind her that cost us. We also had some really, really good plays that we haven't seen all year that I was happy with.

Meanwhile, the Sus Valley bats were solid, rapping out 10 hits while two SV pitchers held Owego to five.

“We just couldn't find the barrel,” said Fortier. “The two that we did were directly at people. We had bases loaded multiple times. We put ourselves in a situation to win. We just couldn't get that hit that we needed, a timely hit. That's the name of the game. You can have 15 hits, but if you don't have timely hits, it's not going to do anything.”

The Sabers scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, despite a double play by third baseman Saylor Ayers and catcher Miley Laubach.

Danica LaBarre doubled to left to score Alexis Burns then a ground ball error off Avery Zembek’s bat plated courtesy runner Morlfer for a 2-0 lead.

Owego loaded the bases with two down in the third as Morgan Francisco was hit by a pitch in between singles from Laubach and Jordan Greeno. Sarah Terry walked, bringing Francisco home to make it a 2-1 game.

Sus Valley got the run back in its half of the third on a Burns walk and Kylee Richardson double.

Crawford and Ayers singled, and Brooklyn Gaurnier was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the fourth, but the Indians were unable to score.

Greeno drew a base on balls to lead off the fifth, advanced to third on a pair of passed balls and scored on Terry’s ground out to short.

Richardson, LaBarre and Zembek delivered consecutive doubles in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2.

Owego would put one more run on the scoreboard in the seventh as Laubach walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Greeno single to left.

LilliOnna D'Introno struck out the next two batters to end the game. She struck out four and gave up one hit and one walk in two innings of relief. Zembek started and allowed four hits and four walks while fanning four in five innings.

Crawford gave up four earned runs on 10 hits and four walks.

Greeno went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI and Laubach was 1-for-2 with two runs. Terry drove in a pair of runs, and Crawford and Ayers both went 1-for-3.

“Kudos to Car as a freshman. We can't wait to have her back next year. She’s going to be a huge asset for the next three years for this program. We're losing, I believe, eight if not nine seniors, so that's going to be tough, but we're excited.

“Hopefully, everybody in Owego is playing some softball. We can get some more pitchers in, but overall we're really happy with where we're at and the direction that our program's going.”

The Indians finished the season with a 9-9 record.

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