Calhoun softball's impressive run ends in state Class AA championship game
Calhoun Colts catcher Kaitlyn DiPaola is consoled by her father after the team’s 6-2 loss to the Fayetteville-Manlius Hornets at the NYSPHSAA Softball Championships in Binghamton, N.Y., Saturday, June 13, 2026. Photo by Matt Hofmann. Credit: Matt Hofmann
BINGHAMTON — Calhoun made it further than it could’ve imagined when the season began , but on the campaign's final day, it came up just short of being the final team standing.
Fayetteville-Manlius defeated Calhoun, 6-2, in the state Class AA softball final at Greenlight Networks Grand Slam Park on Saturday.
“This season has really been magical,” Calhoun coach Mike Pisano said. “We battled during the season to prepare for this. Once the playoffs came, the girls locked in. They fought hard, but some days you have it and some you don’t.”
Ruth Small had three hits and a run, Kaitlyn DiPaola had two hits and Selma Radoncic had a hit for Calhoun.
“When we won counties, I don’t know if anyone expected us to keep going,” Said DiPaola, a senior and co-captain of the team. “We won the Long Island title, then the semis yesterday. I think we just enjoyed playing with each other and seeing where that took us.”
Megan Hobdy singled in the bottom of the first inning for Calhoun and an error allowed Small to score the game’s first run. Fayetteville-Manlius' Avilene Terry hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning to tie the score at 1.
“It was a great first inning. Normally, when you start off the game with a run, you think that production will carry throughout,” DiPaola said. “Unfortunately, that isn’t the way things worked out today.”
Anna Egan's sacrifice fly in the fifth gave Fayetteville-Manlius (22-3) the lead. Terry singled and Megan Woodridge was thrown out at the plate but was awarded a run after interference was called as she rounded third base, increasing the lead to 3-1.
Hobdy’s two-out RBI single trimmed the lead to one run in the fifth, but Calhoun was denied more as Egan tracked down Madison Martins’ liner in the gap. Raeley Cimino hit a bases-loaded pop-up to shallow rightfield to drive in a run in the sixth and Egan added a sacrifice fly to extend Fayetteville-Manlius’ lead to 5-2.
“I think we needed to be a bit sharper in the field,” Pisano said. “They made some big plays in the outfield. Balls landed for them and they didn’t for us. I think if we played a series, the outcome may have been different. But when it’s just one game, anything can happen.”
Calhoun (17-2) enjoyed a season of memorable accomplishments, including the program’s first county and Long Island titles. The Colts swept the county final series against MacArthur and defeated East Islip, 7-1, in the Long Island championship.
“Now that the team has tasted this, it’s only going to continue to drive this program,” Pisano said. “This will make us better and hopefully inspire the younger generations coming up to be the best they can be.”
Calhoun's 14-2 win in the state semifinal against Minisink Valley on Friday pushed the team to its first state final appearance.
“We’re a great hitting team, but you don’t expect to come to a game in the state tournament and be ahead by 12 runs,” DiPaola said. “We were all pumped after that game yesterday and that’s something I’ll never forget.”
Christopher Matias covers high school sports for Newsday after spending time in Athletic Facilities and Operation at St. John’s and in Sports Information at CUNY York college.
