VOORHEESVILLE — After sitting around for over a week, the Voorheesville softball team finally got back on the field on Friday and took advantage of the beautiful weather.

The Lady Blackbirds played well against a tough Cobleskill-Richmondville team and came away with a 4-1 victory.
"It’s definitely been tough," Voorheesville Coach Matt Fiato said of the weather. "At the beginning of this week, there was snow on the ground and the school was shut down on Monday. It was five days between spring break and our next practice. We had some kids on vacation. But we were able to come back out and win the game. But we have some big league games going into next weekend."

The Blackbirds lost to Lansingburgh, 2-0, on Monday.

Beating the Bulldogs

The Blackbirds were led by Brittany Vogel’s double and two runs batted in. Sophomore Alissa Hatch also had two hits in the game for the Blackbirds.
"She is batting over .500 and has an on-base percentage of over .700," Fiato said of Hatch.

The Birds were able to solve Cobleskill pitcher Sarah Harrison, though the Bulldogs’ hurler had eight strikeouts.
"Their pitcher did a nice job at the beginning of the game," Fiato said. "We caught up to her a little. We got a few good hits. And they made a couple of costly errors."

Voorheesville pitcher Sarah LaFave put together a good pitching performance.
"Sarah was sick," Fiato said. "But she came to us and told us that she would try and go. She threw a two-hitter and one of those was on a bunt. She has been struggling with the strike zone. But she kept the walks down and did a nice job with 13 strikeouts."

Hatch also picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle the last time the Blackbirds took the field. She struck out five batters and gave up just five hits in a 15-0 win over Watervliet on April 11. Three of the hits that Hatch gave up were on bunts.
Hatch was subbing for starter LaFave, who was out with a "tight neck," according to Fiato.
"She did a great job of stepping in," Fiato said. "We had half of the junior varsity playing. They played well, too."

"A good start"

Friday’s win evened the Blackbirds record in the Colonial Council. The 2-2 Birds are also 3-3 overall as of Friday. The Birds played Lansingburgh on Monday.

Voorheesville lost a close game to Cohoes, 3-2, on April 9.
"Sarah pitched a one-hitter," Fiato said. "But she had some walks and hit a batter."

The Birds were losing, 1-0, going into the seventh and final inning.

Senior Jenna Massaroni gave Voorheesville the lead with a two-run double with two outs. But Cohoes scored two runs with no hits in the bottom half of the seventh inning.

On April 10, the Birds lost to Mechanicville, 7-1.
"It was a tight game," Fiato said. "It was 1-1 in the fifth inning. We made a couple of errors and a couple of walks. We left runners on base. But it was a closer game than 7-1."

Though his team is not exactly where he would like it to be, Fiato is pleased with his team’s start especially considering the weather and vacation.
"I would have liked to be 3-1 after this week," the coach said. "But it is a good start in the league. We gave the game away against Cohoes. But we’ve been solid in the field. We need to get the bats going a bit better. But we’re fundamentally better than in the past few years. We have a lot of team speed."

Another thing Fiato likes in his team is the depth he gets to play with each game.
"We have to juggle around because all these girls can play," he said. "We’re trying to keep everyone happy. We have people that can play two or three positions."

The Blackbirds were scheduled to play Guilderland today (Thursday) and travel to Watervliet on Friday. Voorheesville returns home to play Ravena on Saturday. Then the Blackbirds play Schalmont on back-to-back days. They travel to Rotterdam on Monday and host the Sabres on Tuesday. The Birds wrap up a busy week with a game at home against Cohoes on Wednesday.