MacArthur falls to Maine-Endwell in state Class A softball semifinal
MacArthur players react after losing to Maine-Endwell in the New York State Public High School Softball Class A state semifinal game in South Glens Falls, N.Y., Saturday, June 10, 2017. Maine-Endwell won, 2-0. Credit: Tim Roske / Tim Roske
SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — Shannon Myles chose to talk about the positives after the MacArthur softball team lost to defending state champ Maine-Endwell in the state Class A semifinal at Moreau Recreational Park on Saturday.
“We could have done this and that, but we don’t want to look at it that way,” said the senior shortstop, who had two of MacArthur’s four hits. “We want to look at what we did do.”
For the second straight season, MacArthur (23-4) advanced to the state semifinals. Last season, the Generals made it to Class AA semifinals. This year, MacArthur had a drop in student population and moved down to Class A.
It didn’t stop MacArthur from its second straight Nassau crown as well as back-to-back Long Island titles.
“I just told the kids don’t look at what you didn’t accomplish this year, look at what you did accomplish,” MacArthur coach Bobby Fehrenbach said. “It’s pretty special what they did accomplish.”
Neither offense was able to accomplish much thanks to both teams’ starting pitchers.
MacArthur left seven runners on base through the first five innings, including the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth, but it could not get to Emily Hess.
“They won the states last year and that kid [Hess] is a pretty good pitcher,” Fehrenbach said. “Her ball gets on you quick.”
Hess, a junior, scattered four hits (Ali Verde also had two of the Generals’ hits) and struck out 14 with a walk and hit two batters for Maine-Endwell (19-3).
She was nearly matched by MacArthur’s Jess Budrewicz, who allowed five hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks. One of the junior’s only mistakes of the game came in the sixth.
After Melissa Demo’s leadoff single, Mikayla Gabarino drove an 0-and-2 pitch over the centerfield fence as MacArthur trailed 2-0.
“I missed my spot,” Budrewicz said. “It was supposed to be a rise [pitch], but I threw it right down the middle of the plate. You can’t do that on 0-and-2.”
While Budrewicz is proud of the Generals’ accomplishments, she also wished she had one more game to pitch.
“Two Nassau championships and two LICs are great, and so is getting to the last day [of the season] no matter what,” Budrewicz said. “It’s just not the outcome I wanted.”
Budrewicz threw 52 shutout innings out of MacArthur’s 54 innings in the postseason. She gave up four runs in one inning against Island Trees, and the two runs against Maine-Endwell.
“That can be the difference sometimes,” Fehrenbach said. “There were opportunities for both teams. They got theirs and we didn’t get ours. That’s softball.”
Myles added: “To get back here again to the state semifinals with this group of girls, I couldn’t really ask for more.”
