HONEOYE — For the Bolivar-Richburg softball team, nearly two years without a sectional title probably felt like an eternity.
After all, the Wolverines had emerged from the lost 2020 season as the powerhouse they’d almost always been under Stan Harris, capturing Section 5 championships in each of the 2021, ‘22 and ‘23 seasons before being edged by Caledonia-Mumford, 2-1, in last spring’s semifinals.
Its bid to end that brief title drought, however, came essentially in the blink of an eye.
Indeed, due to a postponement which pushed their semifinal matchup against Dundee/Bradford from Thursday to Friday, the Wolverines went from playing, and knocking off, the top-seeded BraveScots in Bradford to competing for the Class C2 championship in Honeoye Falls-Lima roughly 21 hours later.
In less than a day, B-R received its chance to reestablish its new reign under fifth-year coach Brooke Lovell.
And behind star freshman pitcher Kylee Whiting, the Wolverines seized it.
WHITING continued her postseason brilliance on a chilly Saturday, striking out nine and scattering four hits and three walks to key B-R to a 5-0 shutout triumph over No. 2 Oakfield-Alabama in the Section 5 Class C2 final. In four playoff contests, Whiting has tossed three shutouts and allowed just two runs — in the Wolverines’ 9-2 semifinal victory over Dundee/Bradford. Fourth-seeded B-R, meanwhile, took out the Nos. 5, 1 and 2 seeds en route to their fourth sectional crown in five years.
B-R will now meet C1 titleist and last year’s state runner-up, Bloomfield, in Monday’s Class C crossover (in Livonia, 5:30 p.m.).
“I’m really proud of how resilient and mentally tough my players have become this season,” Lovell said afterward. “They had a goal in mind at the beginning of the season to get back into the sectional finals, and they were able to accomplish that and win.
“Winning a sectional title means a lot not only to our team, but to our school and the community. This is a very special group who have worked countless hours in the offseason to get ready for this exact moment. They deserve this.”
AFTER A scoreless first inning, the Wolverines (16-4) took leads of 1-0 and 2-0 in the second and third innings, respectively.
In the former, Emma Sisson logged an infield RBI single with the bases loaded to score Rylee Whiting. One frame later, the Wolverines both scored and loaded the bases again before O-A escaped the jam.
That, however, was all the offense tournament MVP Kylee Whiting needed.
In the second, with two on and one out, Whiting notched a pair of strikeouts to end the inning. In the fifth, the Hornets had a runner at third with one out, but the Wolverines coaxed a strikeout and fly out to again get out of it. And in the seventh, after the first two Hornets reached, B-R collected three-straight outs, including two more strikeouts from Whiting.
In their latest shutout, the Wolverines also played stellar defense, committing no errors to Oakfield-Alabama’s five.
In the fourth, shortstop Cassidy Stives made a spectacular diving grab on a line drive, doubling up the runner at first base to make it a 1-2-3 inning. Outfielder Jayna Thomas had a nice catch in the fifth to again keep the Hornets at bay.
“The defense behind Kylee has been outstanding,” Lovell said. “Cassidy has made three huge plays in the last two games for us that really helped us propel the momentum. We put a lot of time into our defensive sets every time out. We do a lot of skill work, situational play, get a lot of reps in. It’s just absolutely phenomenal to see all of that pay off for them.”
STILL CLINGING to a 2-0 lead, the Wolverines plated three sixth-inning runs to essentially put the game out of reach. Thomas hit a leadoff triple before being brought home on a Teegan Sibble bunt single. Kylee Whiting then ripped an RBI double to score Sibble from first and wound up coming all the way around on a pair of O-A throwing errors.
Thomas, Stives, Sisson and Danica Loucks all finished with two hits for Bolivar-Richburg, which totaled 10 hits as a team. Savannah Durham was strong for O-A, also fanning nine and issuing three walks.
On May 7, B-R suffered a humbling 16-4 loss to Avoca-Prattsburgh, which Lovell described as “absolutely the turning point of our season.” Since then, the Wolverines have been at their best, winning 12-straight games while outscoring opponents by a count of 33-2 in the postseason before losing 4-0 in their Far West Regional game Monday night to Bloomfield.
