Burnt Hills Spartans softball marches into state semifinals
MALTA, N.Y. (NEWS10 ) -- Burnt Hills softball toppled Whitesboro, 10-2, in Saturday's Class AA regional championship game out at Malta, punching a ticket to the state semifinals.
The Spartans offense jumped out to an early lead thanks to opportunistic base running from Carli Ewing, who stole home off a wild pitch. Following that up, Ava Yahoudy singled to left, plating two more runs and extending the Spartans' lead to 3-0.
Burnt Hills plated one run in the second, and after a scoring lull in the next two frames, re-ignited.
In the fifth, Cianna Benamati tripled to left field, scoring one run and giving the Spartans a 5-1 advantage. Benamati led Burnt Hills at the plate, going 2-3 win an RBI and two runs scored. Before the end of the inning, Lilly Morse singled on a line drive to left field, allowing Benamati to score.
The Spartans rattled off four runs in the sixth inning to pull away with the win.
"It feels incredible," said head coach Caitlyn Rana. "These girls have worked so hard since the beginning of the season and just to see where they're at today and all of that hard work that they're putting in, and having it all pay off it's so rewarding as a coach."
Burnt Hills travels to Martha Avenue Recreation Park in Bellport for the state semifinals. A battle with the No. 1-ranked team in the state for Class AA, Section IV's Vestal, awaits the second-ranked Spartans on Friday, June 7, at 3:00 p.m.