2025 Section IV Blog
4/20/25
Happy Easter, and welcome back to the blog! It wasn’t the greatest week for the weather, but still plenty of action to dive into.
* Before we get to all of that, a plea for those of you running Gamechanger. First of all, thank you. It makes being a fan much easier to follow along or check box scores at night in a day and age where opening up the newspaper the following morning and looking at this stuff is a thing of the past. From what I can tell, many Section IV teams have a GC and are regularly using them.
If there’s one thing I would change, it’s unlocking access to game videos for everyone to see. I mentioned this on my X account during the week, but it’s a bit of a letdown when you see Team A vs. Team B, but the video is locked to only approved members. Maybe the people who set up the streams don’t realize it is locked, so if that’s you, please check the settings so everyone can view. Then again, maybe it’s a scouting thing, as teams don’t want future opponents picking up any tendencies about them. I get it to a point, but do you know what other high school sports are streamed that aren’t locked? Football, basketball, soccer, field hockey, volleyball, lacrosse, flag football, and possibly other sports that I’m not thinking of. If those sports can be viewed by everyone, then softball (and baseball) should be too.
* Susquehanna Valley is off to a red hot start at 4-0, outscoring their opponents 46-0. One of the wins was 5-0 over Owego, who came in 6-0. In that game, LilliOnna D’Introno struck out 10 in a four-hitter. Here’s an eye-popping stat: she’s given up five hits all season. Four vs. Owego, one vs. Windsor, and two no-hitters vs. Chenango Forks and Norwich. She has 52 strikeouts in 25 innings, and obviously a 0.00 ERA since the Sabers have yet to surrender a run. She’s also only a junior, so it’s interesting to think that the best is yet to come. SV ended last season with a Section IV Class B Championship, and were one good inning away from winning a Regional Final over Marcellus, but unraveled a bit in the final inning, denying them a chance to compete at State Championship weekend. In addition to D’Introno, they have a whole lot of talent around her in Kylee Richardson (already a three-time All-State selection and just a junior), Danica LaBarre, Kiana Cipolla, Julia Ricci, and Rianne Moelder, among others. You could say that there’s a chip on their shoulders as they want to prove that they are the best in the state.
* Union Springs, the reigning Section IV Class C champs, have raced out to a 7-0 start, with their average margin of victory at over 13 runs/game. Their closest game was an 11-6 win over Moravia in which they started the game down 4-0, but eventually pulled ahead in the 4th and didn’t look back. Just like last year, pitching is divided between Gracie Chalupnicki and Paityn Delaney. That’s a heck of a 1-2 punch. Thus far, Chalupnicki has started five of the seven games, and the results are 59 K’s in 31 innings, and a no-hitter in a 23-0 win over Newark Valley. The offense has scored in single digits only once, as Chalupnicki has led the way with 20 hits. Abbi Tracey has driven in 19 runs and has four triples. Ella Dougherty has 12 RBIs and scored 13 runs. As pointed out last week, they went all the way to the State Semi-final last year without a senior on the roster. The competition is even tougher this year with Deposit-Hancock added to Class C, but so far, the Wolves are playing like a team on a mission.
* Corning and Horseheads enjoyed some time playing in Myrtle Beach at the Grand Strand Classic. Corning had a very strong run, winning their first two games over Langley, VA and James Madison, VA, respectively. In their last game, they dropped a narrow 2-1 game to undefeated, 11-0 McLean, VA, a team that features players with Division 1 commitments to Illinois and Coastal Carolina. To be within an eyelash of winning that game as well is very impressive. Horseheads got off to a great start with a 12-4 victory over Central Valley, SC. Reagan Burge and Chloe Perritt combined for the win in the circle, and Megan Wolf, Caitlin Yearick, and Aubrey Howe each collected two hits. They ended up falling in their final two games, but to get away from your normal opponents and test yourself against great teams from other states will pay off in the long run. Horseheads visits Corning on Monday, which will be a great game.
* In the STAC Central, Chenango Valley and Owego appear to be heading on a collision course for the top spot. Owego was covered last week when they were 5-0, and ended up going 2-1 this week with wins over Seton and Chenango Forks sandwiched around their loss to Susquehanna Valley. Chenango Valley started the season with a loss to Horseheads, but have since won their next four straight, all by blowout. Most recently, they defeated Waverly 13-1, with a 10-run 3rd inning being the difference. Waverly entered that game at 4-1 and looking to make a statement win. Early on, the top four of their order in Colsten Beers, Amelia Paske, Makenzi Reinhard, and Caelyn Koch are leading the team in nearly every statistical category, as each are hitting above or near .500, and are getting on base in well over half of their plate appearances. Two of those players, Beers and Reinhard, were key players in CV’s run to the State Championship game when they were freshman in 2022, so they have plenty of big game experience. Like Union Springs, they did not have one senior on their roster last year, so it’s a team that played a lot of softball together and learned how to gel. The competition for the Warriors will be good this week with road games at Johnson City and Vestal. It will also be interesting to see them matchup against great pitchers like Carsten Crawford of Owego and D’Introno from SV a little later this season.
* This Saturday is one of the best days of the Section IV season, the Mary Testa Tournament, held across various sites. It’s always an adventure with the weather, but with many of these games being played on turf, hopefully they can be all be played. The game that perhaps jumps off the page the most is SV vs. D-H, featuring one of the best pitching matchups in the state – D’Introno vs. Addison Makowski. Here is the full schedule:
- at Union-Endicott: Union-Endicott vs. Tioga, 10:00 am; Tioga vs. Cohoes, noon; Union-Endicott vs. Cohoes, 2:00
- at Maine-Endwell: Maine-Endwell vs. Oneonta, 10:00 am; Oneonta vs. Canandaigua, noon; Maine-Endwell vs. Canandaigua, 2:00
- at Susquehanna Valley (on their brand new turf field): Susquehanna Valley vs. Abington Heights, PA, 10:00 am; Abington Heights, PA vs. Deposit-Hancock, noon; Susquehanna Valley vs. Deposit-Hancock, 2:00
- at Waverly: Waverly vs. Elmira, 10:00 am; Elmira vs. Pittsford Sutherland, noon; Waverly vs. Pittsford Sutherland, 2:00
- at Windsor: Windsor vs. Webster Schroeder and Corning vs. Edison, 11:00 am; Consolation and Championship, 1:00 (this is the only place where there are four teams)
* This week is Spring Break for some teams, so start times could be during the day, while others are back to school and at their normal times. As always, check your team’s schedule on Aktivate to confirm. Here’s a look at some of the big games:
- Monday: Horseheads at Corning, Tioga at Southern Cayuga
- Tuesday: Union-Endicott at Maine-Endwell, Vestal at Johnson City, Morris/Edmeston at Charlotte Valley/Schenevus
- Wednesday: Maine-Endwell at Horseheads, Chenango Valley at Vestal
- Thursday: Edison at Corning, Oneonta at Bainbridge-Guilford, Morris/Edmeston vs. Charlotte Valley/Schenevus at Cooperstown All-Star Village
- Friday: Chenango Valley at Johnson City
- Saturday: Mary Testa Tournament across various sites (see full schedule above), Vestal vs. Scranton Prep at Greenlight Networks Park, Watkins Glen vs. Bolivar Richburg at Waterloo Tournament, Bainbridge-Guilford at Marathon Tournament, Windham-Ashland-Jewett vs. Ravena at Greenville Tournament
* Looks like 60s this week, so get out there and watch some softball!
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4/13/25
Every Section IV team is now on the board, so it’s time to fire up the first edition of the 2025 blog!
Let’s take a look at the early action around Section IV, as everyone battles this beautiful, majestic weather that we’ve all been dealt…
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* Our two reigning state champions are off to flawless starts and have largely been untested. Corning won the first ever Class AAA State Championship last June, and have picked up right where they left off with wins over Maine-Endwell, Williamson, PA, and Elmira by combined scores of 41-4. They actually started the season with a wild game vs. Vestal in which it was tied 12-12 heading into extra innings, but was called due to darkness. They’ll have to restart the game from the beginning hopefully sometime soon. In the Maine-Endwell win, a leadoff infield single by pitcher Matti Johnston soon led to five runs thanks to a mixture of hits, walks, sacrifices, and some shaky M-E defense for a quick 5-0 lead. Johnston ended up with 10 punchouts. The win over Elmira was more of the same, as constant traffic on the bases once again put the Hawks up 5-0 en route to a 16-3 victory. They now will play three games in the Grand Strand Classic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Not a bad way to spend Spring Break!
* Deposit-Hancock, the Class D state champions who are bumped up to Class C this year, have a pair of 16-0 wins under their belts. Addison Makowski started things off with a no-hitter on 12 strikeouts over Unatego, then Aubrey Smith followed that up with a nine-strikeout, four-hit performance in a shutout over Sidney. The offense is (obviously) clicking, led by Amanda Ray with seven hits and seven RBIs through two games, Sarah Gross with six hits, one homer, and five runs scored, and Pagen Macumber with five RBIs and Kayden Appley with four. Once again, while the dominant pitching jumps off the page, it’s an entire team effort that carries D-H so far every season.
* Something that will be very interesting to keep track of is the potential Section IV Championship matchup in Class C. Union Springs (off to a 4-0 start) won it last year, their first in school history, before advancing all the way to the State Semi-final. And, they did it without one senior on their roster. Now they’re a year older, a year wiser, a year better, and all of that. But, they also have to deal with D-H this season, which is quite the roadblock. On paper, Union Springs vs. Deposit-Hancock would be an exciting championship game. However, that’s why games are played on the field, and not on paper. There’s still plenty of teams that can emerge between now and then.
* Owego is off to a 5-0 start with some non-league wins to start the season, then three over their STAC opponents. Pitching has been a huge reason why, as Carsten Crawford has struck out 43 over 24 innings. Miley Laubach had a walk-off, suicide squeeze bunt to defeat Windsor 6-5 on Wednesday, and she leads the River Hawks with nine hits and eight RBIs (tied with Joslyn Space). They have a home game vs. Susquehanna Valley on Tuesday, which will be a good test for both. SV has only played once this year, a 9-0 win over Chenango Forks in which LilliOnna D’Introno tossed a no-hitter with an incredible 20 strikeouts. Putting up any kind of offense against her is always a challenge.
* Two teams making noise in the IAC South Large division are Edison and Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour. They played once already, and it was a doozy. The game started off looking like a runaway for Edison, as they built a 7-1 advantage going into the 6th. That’s when the Storm (as the WG/O-M combined team is nicknamed) woke up, scoring a run, and then four more in the 7th before running out of steam and losing 7-6. Even in the loss, it was an impressive display from the Storm, as Edison had won their first three games by a combined score of 58-0. The Storm then improved their record to 4-1 with an 18-1 takedown of Elmira Notre Dame. Paige Ells tossed a no-hitter in the five-inning mercy rule win. They will next meet on May 2, a game that will be one to circle.
* Over in the Delaware League, two undefeated teams to start off are the combined Charlotte Valley/Schenevus squad (5-0) and Windham-Ashland-Jewett (4-0). CV/S has a couple of wins over MAC schools in Greene and Harpursville, a Tri-Valley win over Worcester, and two wins in their own division over Hunter-Tannersville and Roxbury/Gilboa. The Greene victory was the closest, as the game was knotted 3-3 heading into the 8th. CV/S scored a pair on an RBI groundout from Josie Butler, and Abby Vroman scoring on a wild pitch. Greene fought back when Cali Knapp scored on an error in the bottom half, but a strikeout and flyout ended the threat. CV/S then had three straight shutout wins before a 12-2 win over Roxbury/Gilboa on Friday. W-A-J has been terrific, with all four wins by double-digits. Hannah Tuttle has been sensational in the circle. She started the season off with a 5-inning no-hitter in a 15-1 win over Cairo-Durham, striking out 14. She also punched out 13 over Middleburgh and 17 over H-T. Kylie Jordan picked up the W in an 18-2 win over Margaretville, showing the team’s depth. With pitching like that, it has to feel good to know that you have a chance to compete in every game. W-A-J at CV/S is scheduled for May 1.
* The Tri-Valley teams haven’t seen a lot of games yet, as each has only played two or three. One of the bigger matchups to start the season was Morris/Edmeston defeating Cherry Valley-Springfield/Sharon Springs 7-3. Hannah Wist missed the first game, a crazy 35-20 win over Franklin, and returned to strikeout 14 over CV-S/SS. Playing at a smaller school, she might not get quite the recognition as someone at a bigger school, but her resume speaks for itself. She is a four-time All-State selection who is committed to play soccer at Canisius in the fall. One more selection puts her in some rare air, as only eight players have been selected five times in Section IV history, most recently by Makenzie Stiles of Deposit and Paige Rauch of Windsor and Binghamton (now the head coach at Chenango Valley). Richfield Springs is also 2-0 after defeating Laurens/Milford 13-5. Issy Seamon has four RBIs and Riley Constantinetis added three.
* It’s now time to look ahead at some of the games that jump off the page this week. As usual, they are subject to change, so you should constantly be checking the team’s Aktivate (Schedule Galaxy) page for the latest updates, even minutes before the game:
- Monday: Waverly at Chenango Valley, Edison at Whitney Point, Tioga at Southern Cayuga
- Tuesday: Susquehanna Valley at Owego, Laurens/Milford at Cherry Valley-Springfield/Sharon Springs
- Wednesday: Maine-Endwell at Vestal, Edison at Lansing, Delhi at Oneonta, Laurens/Milford at Morris/Edmeston
- Thursday: Bainbridge-Guilford at Afton, Cherry Valley-Springfield/Sharon Springs at Richfield Springs
- Friday: Waverly at Maine-Endwell
- Saturday: Deposit-Hancock vs. Elmira and Vestal vs. Elmira at Greenlight Park (doubleheader)
* Get out there and enjoy some softball this week!