PLATTSBURGH — There’s no moral victory in sports.
Saranac head coach Sam Campbell was proud and pleased of how his team played but said there was a lot left on the field that could’ve made a difference in the Spartans’ 9-2 loss to the Chatham Panthers in a NYSPHSAA Class B subregional.
“Well, I was pleased with the way we made some plays,” Campbell said. “I would be happier if we’d been a little more aggressive at the plate, knowing that (Chatham’s Skylar Groom) is throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes, and she’s throwing a fastball. Just gear up and get ready and go. Don’t be looking at pitches.
“When she gets ahead, she’s probably going to come with that rise ball for getting four or five times today, and we’ve got to be able to lay off of that. We just made little mistakes today.”
It was the little mistakes added together that became too much to overcome.
Early miscues allowed the Panthers to get four runs on the board early and proved too much.
If Saranac limited the runs in the first innings or held Chatham scoreless in the fifth inning, the outcome could have been different, Campbell said.
“It’s natural for them to doubt themselves when you play in the team from Section II,” Campbell said. “We’ve been, all week, trying to get them up and say, ‘Hey, we can do this. We can do this.’
“I thought if we got back to our bats in the next inning, still down 4-2, we’re in good shape. We just couldn’t push another one across.”
Chatham added five runs over the final five innings to close out the game. The Class B defending state champions, with Class B player of the year Groom, move on while Saranac wraps up the season.
Groom had already thrown three no hitters to date, including Hoosick Falls in the Section II championship. She looked prime for a fourth, striking out 13 batters and limiting contact to the Spartans.
But an Elizabeth Recore double in the fourth put runners on second and third with no outs. Back-to-back RBIs by Abby Carter and Emma Duquette cut into the deficit, but Saranac couldn’t produce anymore.
Both Carter’s and Duquette’s hits went straight to the second baseman.
“There were two of the hardest hit balls we hit all day,” Campbell said. “If we get them 10 feet either way, it’s a base hit because they were just hard hits.”
The Spartans finished 13-9 as a team Campbell said wanted to play anyone at any time. He said he always wants the best of his team. In his last conversation with them at Plattsburgh High School, he praised their effort and told them to not hang their head.
“The biggest, biggest reason that we are good is not only A, we’ve got kids who grow up playing town ball or rec ball, you know, and some of them play travel, but it’s these guys,” Campbell said pointing to his assistant coaches.
“It’s (Mike Recore and Pat Ryan) and my daughter, Brette (Campbell). My JV coaches, you know, our modified coach, too. Everybody has a theory of how we want to play the game and, you know, and that’s stressed. I mean, if you watch our JV team play, they do the same things we do.”
Campbell explained it works because everyone is saying the same message. By the time a girl reaches the varsity team — two eighth graders played Wednesday — they’re ready to go.
“Look down through our program down to the bottom, and we’ve got, we’ve got pitchers and players that are seventh graders, eighth graders that might be ready to go,” he said. “Those kids, in time, will be freshmen or sophomores up here with a promising future.
“I think that the next five years, without a double, the program should be pretty strong.”
Saranac returns a “two-headed monster,” as Campbell put it, in Gracie Baxter and Irelyn Ryan that can work the circle. The team loses four seniors — Maddie Gagnier, Mckenzie Hanson, Alyssa Bronson and Emily McDermott — but a core is there that will push for more success, Campbell said.
He added there are potential move ups to fill holes. He mentioned how his team was more energetic and how they were all eager to get back to playing.
“Give Chatham’s pitcher credit. She made it hard on us with the 13 strike outs,” Campbell said. “I was happy with our girls’ energy and determination all day as we never stopped working.”
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Chatham 9, Saranac 2
CHS;310;013;1;—;9;13;2
SCS;000;200;0;—;2;2;3
Groom and Rowe. Baxter and Duquette. WP- Groom. LP- Baxter. 2B- Groom (C) 2, Steltz (C), Recore (SCS). 3B- Rowe (C), Steltz (C).