For eight seniors on the Pine Bush softball team, things came full circle on one momentous night.

It was Senior Night at the Pine Bush Little League complex, on the softball team where many of them grew up playing. Pine Bush clinched a berth in the Section 9 Class AA playoffs last Wednesday night with a 16-5 win over the Washingtonville Wizards in 5 innings.

“That’s where it started for them,” Pine Bush coach Scott VanPelt said. “These girls played Little League there, as young as 8, 9 or 19 years old and straight through. To finish there – for some of them aren’t playing in college – to finish their softball careers on that field is a big moment.”

The big moment got off to a rough start in the first inning as the Wizards put up three runs of Pine Bush starting pitcher Molly Martin.

But the Pine Bush bats erupted in the first inning – with some help from Washingtonville starting pitcher Gabrielle Gellys, who hit three batters and walked two in Pine Bush’s 10-run first inning. Seniors Caitlyn Price, Kiara Vasquez, Julianne McCabe, Serina Garmendiz had RBI singles the first time through the order. The second time through, senior Jessica Fowler drove in two with a double and junior Kaeli Murtagh finished the inning with a three-run home run.

“I look as this win puts us in sectionals,” VanPelt said.

“So, it’s a big win in that case. But the thing I said, and I kept harping on them was we’ve got to take the opportunities that we have one base at a time, one out at a time. One of the big things we’ve been working on is softball for seven innings is 21 outs. So, we focus on getting each and every one of those outs, hitting our pitches, knowing our zone and working through.”

Pine Bush put up five more runs in the second and knocked Gellys out of the pitching circle before she recorded an out.

Then when Ryan Pierce came into pitch, Sierra Birmingham greeted her with an RBI double to center field. Price scored a run with a sacrifice fly, Murtaugh singled home a run and Vasquez delivered a two-run single.

Fowler singled home Pine Bush’s third-inning run. Freshman Ellie Hoppe finished the game, allowing two runs in three innings.

“I think they played well as a team, the whole eight seniors,” VanPelt said. “They’re a pretty strong team and they play together very well. These girls have been playing with each other since they were 10 years old. So, they’re very familiar with each other, and they played well tonight.”

The 2021 season has been anything, but familiar, however. After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 spring season, the delays early in the school year caused the New York State Public High School Athletic Association to postpone the start of the spring season to April 19.

The preseason usually starts the second Monday in March for an April beginning. They played their first game on April 30, a 13-8 loss to the Valley Central Vikings.

“It’s been tough,” VanPelt said. “It’s been really tough on the girls with COVID, and having to play with a mask. That affects your breathing and your athleticism. It’s been tough. Going in to face Washingtonville tonight, they were confident. They weren’t cocky.”