The Cincinnatus softball team had 24 hits and finished off Marathon in five innings via the run rule with a 20-5 win Tuesday at Cincinnatus Central School. The Lions ended the regular season with a record of 12-3 and won the Central Counties League title for the first time in 17 years.
Coming into Tuesday’s game, Cincinnatus already had momentum from clinching the CCL title, but it was due to not sharing the title with Stockbridge Valley. The Lions got some help from rival McGraw Saturday, which beat the Cougars 5-1. The loss clinched an outright league title for Cincinnatus.
“It’s pretty crazy to win it for the first time in 17 years and it’s exciting,” Cincinnatus head coach Mikayla Gates said. “We split with Stockbridge this season and we were going to be co-champions, but McGraw pulled one out against them on Saturday and secured it for us.”
Though Cincinnatus came into the game with the pride of a league title, it was Marathon that struck first. The Olympians scored two runs on just one hit, but crowding the bases led to success. Marissa Allen had the lone hit in the inning and stole a base. Kayla Wood then got on with a walk, stole a base and her and Allen later scored as Jordin Chrysler, Bonnie-Jade Kinsman and Autumn Young had consecutive walks.
Cincinnatus quickly responded with its high-powered offense, scoring 10 runs in the first inning and seven in the second.
Payton Gerrard, Madison Stover, Lucy Finch and Kaylee Brenchley, the first four hitters in the Lions batting order, all went 3-for-3 through the first two innings.
After Gerrard began the bottom of the first with a single, hitting became contagious for the entire team. The first seven hitters in Cincinnatus’ order got on with a hit in the first. Everyone in the lineup had a hit through two frames.
Marathon was able to score a run in the top of the second after Allen tripled and the Olympians added two more runs in the top of the fifth, but the score was well out of reach. Cincinnatus’ hot start proved to be far too much and capped off its win in the bottom of the fifth with three runs.
It was a group effort offensively for Cincinnatus. Out of the 24 total hits, nine different players recorded one and seven different players earned one or more RBIs.
Lucy Finch and Brenchley delivered the big blows for the Lions. Lucy Finch went 4-for-5 with five RBIs and Brenchley went 3-for-5 with six RBIs.
Plenty of production came elsewhere. Gerrard went 4-for-5 with an RBI, Stover had three hits and two RBIs, Hannah Ellerson had three hits and an RBI, Rachael Standish had a hit and three RBIs, Neveah Billings and Addison Stith had two hits, Emma Finch had a hit and Mandi Waltz had an RBI.
It has been the same recipe all season for Cincinnatus. The Lions have been getting the job done as a group and in Tuesday’s regular season finale, the story remained the same.
“They’re very tenacious and bring energy,” Gates said. “They’re always active, even when they get down a couple runs, they’re always getting after the ball and staying in the game. They pull it together really well.”
For Marathon, Allen had two hits and two runs scored and Delaney Reilly and Melodie Sutton added a hit.
Cincinnatus awaits its seed in the Section III Class D tournament and plays again at a time and date to be announced.
Marathon finished the regular season 8-12 and earned the No. 8 seed in the Section IV Class C tournament. The Olympians host No. 9 Moravia at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
