Published: May 29, 2008 11:29 pm      

HS SOFTBALL: Starpoint eliminates Tonawanda

PENDLETON — Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning and facing a dominant pitcher, things looked bleak for the Starpoint Lady Spartans on Thursday afternoon.

But faith was not lost.

“The chant was ‘believe’ and they had a lot of confidence in each other and we ended up pulling it out,” Lady Spartans coach Michele Cyr said after a thrilling 2-1 Section VI Class A qualifying-round victory over the visiting Tonawanda Warriors.

Anna McCullough’s one-out, bases-loaded single over a drawn-in outfield plated Allyson Zurawski with the winning run. The Lady Spartans had tied the game earlier in the inning when Katelyn Musall’s grounder brought home Danielle Lanternier. A batter earlier, Starpoint’s Beth Beutel singled sharply to the left side of the infield, but the play became controversial.

Lanternier and Tonawanda shortstop Sam Dayton, who was making a play for the ball, collided, and the umpire appeared to call an interference, but after a meeting the play stood and the bases were loaded, setting the stage for Musall, and then McCullough.

Her hit brought an end to what was an otherwise well-pitched game, as Tonawanda senior Kelsey Schroeder and Beutel, a sophomore, took turns putting up zeroes on the scoreboard through the first six innings. In a game that took slightly more than an hour to play, both pitchers got plenty of groundouts, including when Beutel started all three outs in the top of the fourth for Tonawanda.

“Give them credit. They played a great game like we did. It’s a shame somebody had to lose,” Tonawanda coach Jay Hall said.

Dayton had previously made a superb back-handed stab of a McCullough grounder to end the fifth.

“She makes those plays. I’m telling you she could have stopped that ball. She might not have thrown anybody out, but she would have stopped it,” Hall said of the ball to Dayton in the seventh.

Tonawanda finally got to Beutel in the seventh inning, as Sam Marcaccio led off with a single to center. Marcaccio then advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Sam Dayton, narrowly beating Beutel’s throw to the bag. Musall started a double play for Starpoint by tagging Dayton out and throwing to first to get Meghan Kossow, but Marcaccio advanced to third on the play.

Tonawanda’s Andrea Calabrese followed with a two-out RBI single to center, her second hit of the day. Momentum appeared to be with the Warriors, but Starpoint didn’t panic.

“I’m really proud of them. They really held their composure,” Cyr said.

The Lady Spartans (9-9 overall) advance to meet second-seeded Williamsville East at 3 p.m. today in the Class A prequarterfinals. Tonawanda finishes the season 7-16. The Warriors graduate three seniors in Schroeder, Calabrese and Allison Hall, the coach’s daughter.

Contact editor Jay Skurski at 693-1000, ext. 117.