VOORHEESVILLE — The team has put itself in a tough position as the stretch run of the season looms.

The Blackbirds lost to Lansingburgh, 3-0, in a Colonial Council game to fall to 3-6 in the league putting their post-season hopes in jeopardy. Teams must finish with a .500 or better record in their league to qualify for the playoffs.
"We have some days where we don’t bring our best game and that hurts us," said Voorheesville Coach Matt Fiato. "We’re going to have to fight to get into the sectionals."

The Lady Blackbirds have lost two games in a row after posting a pair of big wins against league foes. The biggest victory came during school break with a win after traveling to play Broadalbin-Perth, the defending Class B Section II champion and state semifinalist.
"At that point, we were playing good ball," Fiato said. "Our confidence was high. But we had a little bit of a lay-off because of spring break."

The Blackbirds only played two games last week because of the weather. They beat Ravena in extra innings but lost to Schalmont. During the spring break, Voorheesville beat Watervliet and Broadalbin-Perth and split two games at the Herkimer Tournament, beating North Shore of Long Island.
"At the Herkimer Tournament, the first game kind of got out of hand," Fiato said. "We put in our relief pitcher. We came back in the second game against North Shore and won 5-2. We played a solid game. We beat Ravena, 4-3, in 10 innings but against Schalmont we were flat and they took it to us that day."

Glikes-yikes!

Against Lansingburgh on Monday, the Blackbirds couldn’t get the bats going until the later innings as they had trouble solving pitcher Erin Glikes.
"We started hitting the ball towards the end," Fiato said. "But we hit it right at girls. Our best hits of the day were outs."

Lansingburgh took the lead in the top half of the third inning, but Voorheesville looked like it was going to tie the game in the fourth frame.

With one out, Jenna Massaroni reached first base on an error by the Lansingburgh third baseman. Massaroni stole second to put herself in scoring position for the next hitter Amanda DeZalia. DeZalia hit the ball hard but right at Lansingburgh shortstop Sarah Cipperly for an out. Jillian Blair then struck out to end the inning and the Blackbirds’ threat.

The Blackbirds had another chance to score in the fifth when they had runners on first and second with one out.

Sarah LaFave reached first on a single and move to second on a wild pitch. Brittany Holcomb hit a little looper between third base and left field for a single but LaFave couldn’t advance.

But then Brittany Vogel struck out and Claire Gravelin hit a pop-up to the shortstop to end the threat.

Lansingburgh scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning, but the Birds battled in the bottom half of the frame.

Rebekkah Coons led off the inning with a single but was forced on a fielder’s choice that allowed Massaroni to reach first base. Massaroni advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Then back-to-back walks to DeZalia and Blair loaded the bases for Voorheesville.

But then Glikes struck out Brittany Weineinger and LaFave looking, to end the inning and to keep the Knights’ lead safe.
"She’s a freshman," Fiato said of Glikes. "It’s the first time we’ve faced her. She did an excellent job. It’s her second start in as many games and she shut out Ravena and she shut us out."

LaFave was in the pitching circle for the Blackbirds. She pitched well but gave up five hits and walked 11 batters, including three in the sixth inning when Lansingburgh scored two runs. She did strike out eight batters and was backed by a stout defense.
"We had no errors," Fiato said. "We were solid in the field. But we had nine or 10 walks. Sarah had some control issues and the umpire was not giving us calls. It was a tough day in terms of that.

Dashed expectations
"We’ve given some games away with errors," Fiato said. "Our expectations were high coming into the season. "

The Blackbirds started the season with an 0-4 record.
"We lost the first game to Lansingburgh when a girl hit a double to end the game," Fiato said. "We were up, 6-1, against Cobleskill and they scored a bunch of runs on one hit and five errors. That put us behind the eight ball. We dug ourselves a hole we had to climb out of. And today we climbed back in it."

The Blackbirds played Cohoes on Wednesday. Voorheesville then hosts Broadalbin-Perth on Friday and Mechanicville on Monday. The Birds also have to make up a game against Holy Names.

Fiato feels this team has the talent to work its way back to a playoff spot.
"We need to get timely hitting, pitching, and solid defense," the coach said. "We need to get them on a regular basis. We need to have all three in the same game. We get two out of three in each game.
"But I definitely feel like we have a lot of talent," Fiato added. "We have a lot of returning players and a good junior-varsity team. I think the future looks good. But, on varsity, you concentrate on the now."