GUILDERLAND — It has been a season of learning for the Voorheesville softball team.

The young players on the Blackbird squad have been competitive in most of their games this season, but they are still learning what it takes to win those close contests.

“We are not winning the close games,” said Voorheesville Coach Matt Fiato. “We had chance to beat the first-place team. We can’t give away games. We’ve got to be .500 in the league to get to sectionals. We were right there with the first-place team but then we lost to the second-to-last place team. Not taking anything away from Schalmont, but it is the kind of game that we have to win.”

The Lady Blackbirds lost to Schalmont, 5-4, on Wednesday but did beat Watervliet, 15-2, to earn their third win of the season.

“We made mistakes”

Last Wednesday, against Schalmont, Voorheesville gave up one run in the sixth inning and one in the seventh to lose the lead. The Lady Blackbirds attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Alexa Dillenbeck led off the inning with a walk and Morgan Vandervort came in to pinch run for Dillenbeck.

Vandervort moved to second base on a wild pitch and then advanced to third on a single by Britney Creed. Vandervort scored on a ground ball hit by Kelsey DeZalia that forced Creed out at second.

Katie Chiseri walked to put runners on first and second with two outs, but a strikeout by Schalmont pitcher Bianca Bejacezuk ended the game and gave the Sabers the win.

Voorheesville had a runner on third base with one out in the sixth inning. Caitlin Abelseth tripled but the next two hitters struck out and the Blackbirds missed an opportunity to tie the game.

“I probably should have bunted there,” Fiato said. “But I thought we would be able to put the ball in play. Thinking back, I should have probably done a squeeze play.

“But we took some bad strikeouts today,” Fiato said last Wednesday. “We struck out on a lot of ball fours. We didn’t get a lot of productive outs. We didn’t have a good overall performance. We made mistakes base running. We missed signs. We were not mentally focused running the bases today.”

Creed scored a run in the first inning to tie the game, 1-1.

Schalmont scored two runs in the top of the third to regain the lead but Voorheesville tied it back up in the bottom half of the fourth inning.

Alissa Hatch doubled to drive in Elizabeth Madden, who walked, and beat a throw home on a ball hit back to the pitcher by Christine Abelseth.

The Lady Blackbirds finished the contest with seven hits, but Fiato has seen them hit better against good teams.

“We’ve struggled at the plate,” the coach said. “Against Guilderland and Lansingburgh, we hit really well. Then against Holy Names we get just one hit and leave runners on base. We lose that game, 1-0.”

“We can get this turned around”

The Blackbirds did bang out nine hits and scored 10 runs in a 10-0 win over Albany High School at the Albany Invitational tournament.

DeZalia led the Birds with three hits in four at bats. She hit two doubles and a single and had three RBIs.

Campana hit a bases-loaded triple and also had a single. Katie Chiseri and Creed each hit two singles and had an RBI.

Hatch and Vandervort combined on the shutout. Hatch pitched five innings and Vandervort pitched two. They were backed by a defense that turned three double plays in the contest.

The Blackbirds lost in the championship game to Burnt Hills.

Voorheesville is getting good defense and solid pitching from Hatch, among others.

“On defense, we’re playing well,” Fiato said. “We don’t have a dominant pitcher, but we are getting good defense behind them. The defense is keeping us in games. When our batting gets better, we’ll win the close games.”

The Blackbirds played at Mechanicville on Monday — and lost, 12-4 — and at Ravena on Wednesday.

Voorheesville hosts Cobleskill on Friday and Holy Names on Monday. The Lady Blackbirds have make-up games left with Mechanicville, Ravena, and Cohoes and have games scheduled against Amsterdam on May 13 and Lansingburgh on May 16 to wrap up the regular season.

“The league is so tough,” Fiato said of the Colonial Council. “Right now we’re third to last and we almost beat the first-place team.”

Fiato is confident in his team’s ability to keep getting better and making a run to earn a playoff bid.

“I think that we can get this turned around and get closer to .500,” Fiato said. “We can get to the CC sectionals and we can win a game or two. But, if we can’t go .500 in the league, we won’t have a chance to do that.”