MALTA, N.Y. — The Saratoga Springs varsity softball team has a knack for being the underdog and still getting to the top. Junior starting pitcher Jackie Cutting shared some insight on their method, or lack thereof, to the madness in May.
“Honestly, we show up, we don’t think, we just do,” Cutting said. “We have energy and that gets us through.”
“I think we just always go in with the mindset of, ‘no pressure,’ because we are the lower seed. We had that same feeling two years ago, of a ‘Cinderella story,’ so we just had to get it done. We had no pressure on us, we just had to go in there and do what we do,” Saratoga Springs senior centerfielder Olivia Tetreault added.
In 2022, the Blue Streaks entered the sectional tournament as the No.7 seed in the field of 10, yet still beat out all three of the top seeds to take home the hardware. This year, the Blue Streaks were the No.5 seed, and after three more upset victories, ending in Thursday afternoon’s 11-4 win over No.3 Guilderland in the Class AAA finals, the team was crowned champions again.
“These guys have stuck together even when we’ve taken our wounds throughout the regular season. I mean, we’ve got run-ruled, we’ve lost games by one run, we’ve won some games by one run; these kids have just stuck together,” said Blue Streaks head coach Geoffrey Loiacono. “There’s no selfishness on this team and that’s what I love about every single one of these kids. They work hard, they overcome adversity and they continue to win.”
Saratoga Springs started its playoff run with an 8-0 win at four-seed Colonie and in the semifinals, took down top-seeded, I-87 rival Shenendehowa, 1-0, to advance back to the championship stage.
The Blue Streaks went up early, behind an RBI groundout from Tetreault in the top of the first, bringing home Cutting after her leadoff, first-pitch double. The team added to the lead in the top of the second. This time via an RBI single off the bat of freshman left fielder Ava Taber.
However, in the bottom of the third inning, Cutting, making her third start in the circle for the Blue Streaks this postseason, did something she and the team hadn’t done thus far: allow a run. After back-to-back singles to start the frame, Lady Dutch’s Laila Smith would sock a towering, three-run homerun to left to give her team a 3-2 lead.
“There was a little bit of some tension in the dugout after that. We were like, ‘Oh no, it’s the fourth inning and we’re down, we’re not up anymore,’ but not for long. The first pitch was thrown, we were like, ‘all we can do now is hit,’ and that’s what we did,” Cutting said.
“I mean, when things like that happen, it’s like, there’s nothing I can do about it except for keep going,” she added. “So, it stunk and I was like, ‘Oh no,’ but I knew my girls got me.”
Cutting’s offense picked her up and did so quickly. In the top of the fourth, the Blue Streaks hung four runs on the board, highlighted by an RBI single from Tetreault and a dropped fly ball in left field that scored another.
In the top of the fifth, Blue Streaks’ eighth-grade right fielder Emily Ruscio put the team ahead 7-3 with an RBI single, followed by an RBII double from Taber to extend the advantage to 8-3.
Overall, following the third-inning homer, Saratoga Springs outscored Guilderland, 9-1 in the final four innings of play.
“The last time we played Guilderland it was a 1-0 game that we won in the bottom of the eighth (5/6). This time, we knew they were gonna put up runs, we knew they were gonna hit the ball, and I told my girls, ‘two runs are not enough, three runs are not enough, four runs are not enough; we have to continue to chip away and continue that lead, play solid defense,’ which we did tonight.”
Tetreault went 4-5 in the game, with four RBIs, while the freshman, Taber, followed her with a 3-3 outing and three RBIs.
“I just wanted a good game, a good team game. I wanted to be able to showcase my talent and wanted to be able to provide for the team as well and it means a lot that I could produce for the team because I know everyone wanted this just as much as I did,” Tetreault said.
“(Taber) has been playing outfield next to me, when I’ve been in, and I have nothing bad to say. She has been doing amazing as a freshman,” she added. “I know it’s a lot of pressure as a freshman, but she’s done a very good job.”
Cutting also did her job in the circle the rest of the way, throwing her third complete game for the Blue Streaks along their ‘Cinderella’ run, with seven strikeouts and just one walk. The junior right-hander allowed just two hits and one run after the early blemish.
“It’s ‘playoff Jackie.’ It’s a totally different kid. She steps off that bus and it’s like: ‘It’s game time, it’s lock-in time.’ During the regular season in a lot of games, I used all of our pitchers and I kept them to 80-85 pitches, but Jackie knows when we’re coming into playoffs, she’s getting the rock,” Loiacono said of his junior starting pitcher.
Saratoga Springs next will play the Section III Class A Champion, back at Luther Forest, in Malta, on Saturday, June 1, at 5 p.m. for the NYSPHSAA Regional Championship. That matchup could be against Liverpool, the same team that eliminated Saratoga Springs in the 2022 sub-regional round if the team was to beat Cicero-North Syracuse in Friday night’s Sectional Final out West.
“We’re going in there as if we want revenge. We want revenge, so we are going to do the same thing we did the past three games and just go in there, have some fun and do what we do,” said Tetreault.
Cutting said she’s sticking to the mentality that got the underdogs to their most recent, upset-filled title run.
“No pressure; that’s it. No pressure, we wanted another shot and we’re here,” Cutting said. “We don’t know if we’re gonna get here again, so we just got to be in the moment.”
