HAMBURG — The Starpoint softball team adopted a simple and fitting mantra heading into the Section VI Class A1 title game: BAMO, or “breathe and move on.”
After allowing a couple of early runs in Thursday’s championship, the team had to take a deep breath. By the time the sixth inning rolled around, though, it seemed apparent they had moved on.
The No. 3 Spartans used a six-run fifth inning to propel themselves to a 6-2 win over No. 1 Grand Island at Hamburg High School to claim their first sectional title since 2015.
It also marks Starpoint’s fifth sectional crown in program history.
“It’s a special group of girls,” said Starpoint head coach Joe Hill. “(The coaches) knew in the beginning of the year that this was a group that could do it. You play your game, you’re able to do anything.”
The Spartans (13-6) came into Thursday’s title game with plenty of experience in tight games, having played in seven one-run games throughout the season. So, when they found themselves trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning, Hill knew his team was not only ready for the moment but capable of scoring runs in bunches.
“That’s been us all year,” Hill said. “We were down 8-0 at (Williamsville) South late in the year, scored seven in the fourth inning. … Against good teams, you’ve got to be able to string things together, and this team’s able to do that.”
With two outs and the bases loaded, the Spartan bats finally got going.
Jenna Linderman’s single to center field drove in two runs to get Starpoint on the board and tie the game at 2-2. Mattie Adamo, who finished 3-for-3 and a home run shy of the cycle, kept things going the next at bat with an RBI double that scored the eventual game-winning run.
After a walk loaded the bases again, catcher Amanda Brady stepped to the plate, having struck out during her first two at-bats. After her slow start at the plate, she said she looked to her team for some advice – and clearly, it worked.
Brady rocketed a ball to the gap for a three-run double, extending the Spartans’ lead and flipping the game’s momentum completely.
“I needed to fix something,” said Brady about her fifth-inning at bat. “I knew I was just getting in my head, I’m not usually like that. I just had to put it all out there and see ball, hit ball.”
After the Vikings’ pair of first-inning runs, pitcher Izzy Plewinski and the Starpoint defense shut down the Grand Island offense, which had combined for 28 runs in its first two playoff games.
Plewinski went the distance, striking out six and allowing four hits for a championship-securing win.
“I was just following (BAMO), and just had a lot of confidence in my defense,” Plewinski said. “Something I always think of is just an invisible string to Amanda, just right to her glove.”
Kaylie Farkas scored Grand Island’s first run on a wild pitch, while Charley Ruth had the Vikings’ lone RBI on a single. Freshman pitcher Skylar Pachura had a strong start before Starpoint’s bats got hot in the fifth inning, as she finished with five strikeouts.
Grand Island (13-8) has now fallen in the sectional title game in three straight seasons, as it still seeks the program’s first Section VI championship.
Starpoint advances to the Class A crossover game, where it will face Depew for a chance to play in the Far West Regionals. The crossover matchup is slated for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Grand Island High School.