PLATTSBURGH — Crown Point coach Mike Ross said the Panthers' bats started to really warm up when the Sectional VII softball playoffs began. By Friday's final, their hitting ability was on full display.
The Panthers pounded 16 hits, with eight players rapping at least one, as they beat Elizabethtown-Lewis 18-2 to claim their sixth straight sectional championship.
Crown Point (14-0) will be back at Cardinal Park Monday for an NYSPHSAA regional game against Section X's Heuvelton.
Lindsay Brace led the hitting attack, going 4-for-5 and driving in five runs.
"That's what we needed to do all along. We just started hitting the ball the last few games," Ross said. "I knew if we could hit, we were going to do well."
Chelsea DuShane pitched four innings for the win, striking out six and walking two.
Crown Point won a pair of tight games over Elizabethtown-Lewis this season, but Friday's contest was close only for the first couple of innings.
With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the second, the top-seeded Panthers stole home to pull in front, and then Brace singled in a run and DuShane doubled in another.
In the third they broke the game open. Hailey White hit a triple and scored on Amanda Wolf's single, and Brace ripped a two-run single to make it 7-1. The Lions brought Kearstin Ashline in to replace starting pitcher Andrea Le Vien and get the last out.
"Once we score five to six runs, we're in pretty good shape, with our pitching," Ross said. "We sort of relax after we get past the five-run mark."
No. 2 seed Elizabethtown-Lewis (10-3) got one back when Kylee Cassavaugh sprinted home on a passed ball in the fourth, but the Lions didn't score the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Panthers tacked on two runs in the bottom of the fourth and then exploded for nine in the sixth on a combination of hits and Lions mistakes.
"We had the nerves, and things snowballed," Elizabethtown-Lewis coach Jim Monty said. "We start seven sophomores, and this is the first time we've been on the big stage.
"I'm very proud of the season we had. Very proud."
The Lions were held to four hits, led by Clare Harwood with a triple that brought in the tying run in the second inning.
Crown Point's Ashley Morgan ripped two doubles and brought in two runs, and White and DuShane also finished with two hits and two RBI apiece.
Brace fanned seven and walked two in two innings of relief.
Ross said there's no pressure on the Panthers now.
"I told them we did all we could do for this section, and whatever we do from here on out is gravy," Ross said.
Crown Point 18,
Elizabethtown-Lewis 2
E'town-Lewis 010 100 0 — 2 4 1
Crown Point 133 209 x — 18 16 0
Le Vien, Ashline (3), Le Vien (6) and McGinn. DuShane, Brace (5) and Booth. WP- DuShane. LP- Le Vien. 2B- DuShane (CP), Morgan (CP) 2. 3B- Harwood (EL), White (CP).
Email Courtney Lewis at: clewis@pressrepublican.com
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