SANDY CREEK — Members of the Sandy Creek softball team appear to have embraced this new Frontier League landscape.
The Comets don't have to dominate every second of every game. Lately, one one-inning outburst per game has been enough.
Mercedes LaVeck collected three of her game-high five RBIs Thursday on a long fourth-inning double to help the Comets outlast visiting South Jefferson 8-1 in a crossover game.
The three-run inning practically dashed any hope the Spartans had of becoming the first league foe in seven years to beat the Comets. Sandy Creek's days of tearing through local opponents with ease appear to be over, but the team has no problem with that. On Tuesday, the Comets plated six 10th-inning runs to down Lowville.
"The season's more intense, but it's more fun having some good competition, too," Courtney Claflin said.
Claflin, the Comets' leadoff batter who scored each time she reached base, slapped a triple, a double and a single. She opened the game with a triple, and scored on LaVeck's sacrifice bunt to give Sandy Creek (16-1 overall, 13-0 league) the lead for good.
"In the league as a whole, the top six or seven teams, anybody can beat anybody," Comets coach Bill Fowler said. "We're enjoying this. I tell my players all we can do is come out everyday and play hard."
Lyndsay Rowell scattered five hits and struck out 10 en route to the win.
The only inning in which South Jefferson (14-5, 10-2) managed more than one hit was the fifth. Mackenzie Hall (2-for-3) smacked a triple, and scored on an RBI-blooper by Katie Lyndaker.
"We expected we'd compete more than we did," South Jefferson first baseman Donna Goodnough said. "I guess it was just one of those days."
The Spartans began to make solid contact midway through the game, but Rowell adjusted accordingly. She fanned six batters after the fourth inning using a crafty changeup to keep the Spartans off balance.
"I didn't want to show everything early," Rowell said. "I like to get through the lineup a couple times, and then throw some other junk."
"With a speed pitcher, she's got to change once we start getting on it," said Spartans coach Steve Randall, whose team squandered an opportunity to wrap up the "B" Division title. "We started hitting it and not striking out. We just had some fundamental lapses today."
South Jefferson had a chance to make it close early when Goodnough roped a triple to right with two outs in the third. Claflin, though, executed a perfect relay, and fired a strike to prevent Goodnough from stretching it into a home run.
"We work on relays all the time," Fowler said. "But often you don't use them until you face the good teams, like today. It was a good play."
Fowler said his players have benefited from the increase in quality pitching in the area in recent years. In the past week alone, the Comets have faced Jessica Wiley (Thousand Islands), Jessica Becker (Lowville), and Jena LaLone (South Jeff).
Only two Comets struck out Thursday.
"We talked about being aggressive at the plate so it wasn't a 2-1, 3-1 game. Obviously that helped," Fowler said.
South Jefferson second baseman Kaillie Goodnough snared a hard line drive in the fourth to prevent Claflin from a 4-for-4 showing.
"She started off (the season) really well, then hit a slump," Fowler said of Claflin. "The last couple weeks even her outs have been stung. Just like the line shot to second."
