LIVINGSTON MANOR – The Lady Wildcats hosted the Lady Yellowjackets for their long-awaited first matchup. After inclement weather pushed the game back and forced a venue change, the two teams met at the home of the Wildcats for their first encounter. Dana Donnelly and the Lady Yellowjackets came out victorious against Mackenzie Carlson and the Lady Wildcats, winning 7-5, but both pitchers had a great outing.

Each pitcher gave up just one hit over the first three innings of the game, Carlson’s in the second and Dana’s in the third. In the top of the fourth, a hit by pitch, the second of the game for Molly McKerrell, gave Eldred an early base runner. A stolen base, and two sacrifice flys moved McKerrell around the bases and gave Eldred a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half, Donnelly worked around a leadoff single, striking out two and fielding a groundout and getting the force out at first to get out of the inning.

Eldred scored their second run in the fifth after an infield single got a runner on and an RBI double brought the run in. In the bottom half of the inning, Eldred started with three consecutive infield errors to load the bases, and the Lady Wildcats capitalized by bringing in the equalizing runs.

In the top of the sixth, it was Livingston Manor’s miscues in the field that allowed Eldred to re-take the lead. A botched pickoff attempt at third brought a run home and advanced the next runner to third, an RBI double brought in the runner at third, and an RBI single brought in another run, giving Eldred a 5-2 lead with just two innings to go.

In the home half of the sixth, Livingston Manor was able to score twice, and had a runner at third. After a walk, the runner at first stole second with two outs, prompting a pump fake from Donnelly that the Lady Wildcats fell for, and the runner at third took off for home and was easily tagged out by Lily Gonzalez at the plate. The Lady Wildcats still trailed 5-4 going into the final frame.

“The bats are starting to come alive,” Eldred Coach Rick Whitney said, “But we have to step up on defense.”

In the top of the seventh inning, Eldred benefitted from a solo home run off the bat of Lily Gonzalez. The ball leapt off the bat, landing over the hill in left center field. The insurance run was the only offense of the inning, but it was a shot nonetheless.

Livingston Manor got a double in the bottom of the seventh, but Donnelly struck out two in the inning to leave the runner stranded and secure the win.

“Both teams had some mental mistakes,” Livingston Manor Coach Nicholas Wyss said. “Both teams played a pretty evenly matched game, and the next game should be just as good.”

The rematch between the two teams was yesterday afternoon, after a waterlogged weekend pushed the Sullivan West tournament to Sunday, Livingston Manor was unable to attend. Their game Friday against Tri-Valley was also postponed, so the teams should have been well rested going into the league matchup.