Calhoun was unable to bring home the New York State Class AA softball championship hardware, but the Colts took an entire community on a historic ride this spring.
The best season in program history ended Saturday afternoon with a 6-2 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius (Section III) in the state title game at Greenlight Networks Grand Slam Park. The Hornets, who scored five runs in the final three innings, closed the campaign on a 15-game winning streak.
“It was a heck of a run,” Calhoun coach Michael Pisano said. “We played until the end of the road. Win or lose today there was no game tomorrow. It’s emotional, but I’m so proud of these girls. It was really a magical season.”
Senior shortstop Ruth Small went 3-for-4 and sophomore pitcher Sophia Nicastro struck out seven.
“We didn’t string as many hits together as we did yesterday and they played some tremendous defense,” Pisano said.
After Small singled and scored on an error with one out to give the Colts (17-13) a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, Fayetteville-Manlius pulled even in the third on Avi Terry’s sac fly. The Hornets took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the fifth, with the first coming on the first of two sac flies on the day from leadoff batter Anna Egan.
Calhoun scratched across a run in the bottom of the frame when sophomore Megan Hobdy drove home Nicastro with a single to cut the margin to 3-2. That would be as close as the Colts could get.
“Their small ball worked well and their pitcher did a good job with locating,” Pisano said.
Fayetteville-Manlius eighth-grade pitcher Katie Modugno scattered five hits and walked only one, striking out seven.
Coming off its first-ever Long Island and Nassau County championships, Calhoun needed just six innings to take down Minisink Valley (Section IX) in Friday afternoon’s state semifinal, 14-2. Junior Adriana Lazo fell a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs including a leadoff home run and a two-run single in a seven-run explosion in the top of the fifth inning.
Lazo also provided Nicastro a 3-0 lead in the third with a two-run single. After Minisink Valley cut the margin to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer from Keira Filip, the Colts responded in the fourth with senior catcher Kaitlyn DiPaola’s two-run single for a 5-2 advantage.
Like Lazo, DiPaola (three RBIs) and junior Madison Martins also went 3-for-4. Calhoun pounded out 15 hits. Nicastro struck out nine and scattered four hits and two walks.
“We couldn’t have come this far without everyone’s contributions, but Sophia was our playoff MVP,” Pisano said. “She had a fantastic postseason.”
