CAZENOVIA, N.Y. (May 9, 2021) – The SUNY Delhi softball team's memorable 2021 season came to an end in the postseason today, with their meeting at Cazenovia in the NAC West Division Series resulting in a pair of Wildcats wins in a best-of-three series. Caz won the opener by a 6-2 score, then took a 14-4 five-inning decision in the nightcap. The Broncos wrap up their season with a 12-8 record (10-6 NAC West) for their first winning season since 2012, and first since becoming a four-year program in 2016.
Despite the limited scoring, Delhi totaled three home runs on the afternoon thanks to long drives from Kayla Beers, Katelynn Rose, and Rachael Scoones. Beers' homer came in the seventh inning of game one to straightaway center, as Rose took hers to left center in the second inning of game two and Scoones taking a high first pitch over the center field fence in the third inning. They marked the three's first homers of the year.
The 2021 season marks the winningest for third-year head coach Meagan Hillard in terms of total wins with 12 and win percentage with .600. Since taking over a program in 2019 that went winless the year before, Coach Stone's teams have totaled 26 wins over three years, including the shortened 2020 season. The Broncos clinched a playoff spot this spring by finishing second in the NAC West standings in their first year in the conference after being ranked five out of five in the preseason poll. Delhi and Cazenovia split their regular-season series back on April 18-19 at SUNY Delhi, with the Wildcats taking the opening two games and the Broncos sweeping the last two.
GAME ONE: CAZENOVIA 6, DELHI 2
While hits her ubiquitous from both dugouts, Cazenovia used the first of their 13 hits to take a 4-0 lead through one. A Caila Benning leadoff triple led to the Wildcats' first run. Two more singles contributed to a bases-load walk, followed by a Sarah Penny two-RBI double. The Broncos held down Caz for the next three frames as they got a run back in the fourth. Although Delhi charted 11 hits for the game, they left just as many runners on base. Penny and Benning came around again to contribute two more runs for the Wildcats in the fifth. A Kayla Beers seventh-inning solo homer to center field marked the Broncos lone rebuttal.
Mel Papuli pitched all six innings, allowing five earned runs with one strikeout. Mackenzie Sparacino batted 3-for-4, with Beers, Katelynn Rose, and Jessica Kwasnik each collecting two hits. Beers' home run and Kwasnik's double stood as Delhi's extra-base hits for the contest. Cazenovia finished with four extra-base hits on one triple and three doubles.
GAME TWO: CAZENOVIA 14, DELHI 4 (FIVE INNINGS)
The Wildcats, who batted first for the second game, collected a staggering 18 hits and took off almost immediately just like in game one, putting up a three-spot in the first inning and two more in the second for an early 5-0 lead. Katelynn Rose got the Broncos up and running with a home run to left center to narrow Caz's lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the second, followed by Rachael Scoones taking her high first pitch to center to cut it down to 5-2 after three. Delhi's resurgence was short-lived, however, as Caz's Caitlin Kelleher delivered a two-run homer in the fourth to reclaim a five-run-lead. This was followed by seven more Wildcats runs in the fifth off eight hits to press the mercy rule. Mackenzie Sparacino provided a two-out, two-run double during the Broncos' last chance in the bottom of the fifth.
Rose pitched the first four-plus innings, allowing eight earned runs with two strikeouts. Mel Papuli pitched the fifth, posting one strikeout. The Broncos were held to six hits, with Rose totaling a pair of hits, along with one hit apiece from Sparacino, Dakota Baker, Papuli, and Scoones.
