Churchville-Chili battled back from an early 5-0 deficit, but lost to Gates-Chili 16-9 in girls’ softball.
The Saints rallied with two outs in their half of the third inning. Sophomore catcher Alexis Raniewicz reached on an error and stole second. After a walk to Jenna Prewasnicak, pitcher Deanna Tinch followed with an RBI single scoring Raniewicz while Prewasnicak scored on a throwing error. Tinch later scored on a wild pitch to cut the Gates-Chili lead to 5-3.
The Spartans pushed three more runs across in their half of the fourth, but the Saints came right back with a run in the bottom of the inning again with two outs.
Alyssa Raniewicz reached on an infield single and stole second. When Sarah Russell reached on an error, Raniewicz came around the score to make it 8-4 Spartans.
But Gates-Chili pulled away scoring four runs in the fifth including a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases.
Churchville-Chili showed resilience in their half of the fifth as Alexis Raniewicz and Tinch reached base and later scored on wild pitches. Mikayla Stewart walked, stole second and advanced to third and home on wild pitches. Anna Wiater, who drew a walk, later scored on an RBI single by Alyssa Raniewicz to again cut the Gates-Chili lead to 12-8.
But the Spartans scored three more runs in the sixth and added another in the seventh to push the lead to 16-8.
The Saints scored once more in the seventh. Tinch walked and went to second and third on wild pitches. As Micheala Temperato drew a walk, the pitch went all the way to the backstop allowing Tinch to score the final run of the game.
Churchville-Chili dropped to 0-4 on the young season while the Spartans improved to 4-3.
