Congratulations to OV seniors Tori Foster and Cassidy Will. They were honored prior to the Vikings 10-9 win over DeRuyter. (Photo from Otselic Valley Booster Club)

OTSELIC – The Otselic Valley Vikings softball team hosted DeRuyter in the final regular season game, where the Vikings won in extra innings 10-9. At an even 6-6 record, the Vikings should make the Section III, Class D postseason.

Prior to the first pitch, OV honored its two dedicated seniors; Tori Foster and Cassidy Will, the Vikings’ top pitcher and catcher duo. Best of luck to the both of you in your future endeavors.

The Vikings took an early 1-0 lead as Miranda Hackett scored the only run of the first inning. OV held DeRuyter off the board for the first two innings, Will and Foster worked together to throw out a runner at the plate and with two strikeouts.

The Rockets were able to score three runs in their next two at-bats. However, OV’s offense excelled with four runs in the third and scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to build a 9-6 lead.

The four runs in the third inning came off Hackett’s lead-off triple and she came home on a Riley Bartlett home run. Hackett, Bartlett, and Cassidy Will had three hits while Tori Foster, Carlie Golden, Paige Will, and Abby White all contributed with two of OV’s 19 hits. Cassidy and Paige Will also hit home runs in their at-bats.

DeRuyter picked up the three tying runs in the top of the seventh inning, which drove the game into extras. After a clean top half of the eighth inning from Cassidy Will, OV went to work quickly as Paige Will got on base with a single and scored the game-winning run off an RBI single from Foster. Foster had a total of three RBIs in the win while Cassidy Will drove in two.

Will was solid on the mound for the Vikings and now has 109 strikeouts on the year as she struck out 13 batters over eight innings pitched.

The Vikings now await their Sectional seeding and opponent.

Box Score:

Runs by Inning: R H E

DeRuyter:

0-0-3-3-0-0-3-0 9 14 0

OV:

1-0-4-2-2-0-0-1 10 19 2

OTHER SCORES:

BASEBALL:

Otselic Valley-Cincinnatus falls to McGraw in final game of the season 15-5 at Gutchess Lumber Sports Complex in Cortland. No full stats are reported at this time. The Vikings finish the 2023 season 5-8. The Vikings had no seniors this season and should bring back experienced players for 2024.

Sherburne-Earlville drops to Morrisville-Eaton 18-1. S-E scored its only run in the second inning and had six hits. No full stats are reported at this time. S-E travels to Clinton this afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

Afton comes up short 2-1 against Chenango Forks before Sectionals. Carter Burns went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Crimson Knights while Ryan Wright, Justin Reeve, and Braydon Baciuska combined with seven strikeouts in the loss.

SOFTBALL:

Greene defeats Elmira 7-3 in a non-league contest before Sectionals. Claire Flanagan goes 3-for-4 while Payton Yahner strikes out nine batters in the win. Greene comes into Sectionals as the number four seed.

Bainbridge-Guilford falls to Oneonta in a non-league match-up 12-5 in last minute prep before Sectionals. Celeste Baldwin led the Bobcats with two hits while Breanna Casey scored two of the five runs. B-G is the nine seed in Sectionals.