Mechanicville junior Anna Arceneaux throws a pitch against Peru in Wednesday's Class B regional final at SUNY-Plattsburgh. (Photos for The Record by The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh).

Class B
Mechanicville 9, Peru 0: Mechanicville jumped out to a big advantage early and help Potsdam scoreless the rest of the way to secure the 9-0 shutout on Wednesday and advance to the Class B softball state championship game.

The Red Raiders (23-2) tallied five runs in the top of the first inning to set the tone for the game. In the next frame, Mechanicville added another two runs to take a commanding 7-0 lead.

Mechanicville was silenced in the third, but they bounced back in the fourth with its final two runs, making the count 9-0.

Anna Arceneaux pitched a gem on the mound for the Red Raiders. She earned the complete-game win, while surrendering only three hits and striking out 12 batters.

On the offensive end, Andrea Mastropietro led the way for Mechanicville. She finished 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI, while Kelsey Hines went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

The Red Raiders return to the diamond on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Waterloo High School to take on Section IV champion Chenango Valley.

MECHANICVILLE 9, PERU 0

Mechanicville 520 200 0 - 9 7 2
Peru 000 000 0 - 0 3 2

The Mechanicville High School softball team celebrates after beating Peru in the Class B regional finals Wednesday afternoon at SUNY-Plattsburgh.

Hoosick Falls also won its regional final game, defeating Ticonderoga, 5-2. Courtney Lewis filed a game story for us and here it is. It will also appear in Thursday's edition of The Record.

Courtney Lewis
For The Record
PLATTSBURGH - Coach Charlie Weeden didn’t think his Panthers were going to be that good this season.

That didn’t stop them from returning to the NYSPHSAA Class C softball semifinals.

Hoosick Falls took advantage of seven errors and beat Ticonderoga, 5-2, Wednesday in a regional final at Plattsburgh State’s Cardinal Park.

The Panthers (23-2) will make their second straight appearance in the final four when they take on Gananda Saturday in Waterloo.

"It’s nice," Weeden said. "We aimed here even though we thought we didn’t have a real great team compared to last year. I thought we were a little down.

"(We’re) a decent team, we’ve got good pitching, we played pretty good defense. So we know we always had a chance."

Rachel Quackenbush allowed just three hits. She struck out 12 batters, including six straight in the second and third innings, and didn’t walk any.

Four of the Panthers’ runs were unearned.

Lead-off hitter Jenna Priore scored on a throwing error to put them ahead 1-0 in the first inning, and they plated runs on two passed balls during the same at-bat in the fourth. Before that inning was over, Samantha Scott drove in another run with a hit to center field, giving the Panthers a 4-0 lead.

"I think our errors hurt us. The kids were nervous and they overthrew the ball, which they normally don’t do," Ticonderoga coach Shannon Huntington said. "I was really proud because we did hit the ball, and we hit it hard."

In the bottom of the fourth, Ashley St. Andrews hit a grounder past shortstop to give Ticonderoga just its second base runner of the game, and Katie Karkoski doubled her in.

The Sentinels scored again in the sixth.

Quackenbush hit an RBI double in the seventh, and, after giving up a single in the bottom half, retired the next three to finish off the Sentinels (16-3).

Karkoski took the loss, walking two in four innings.

Quackenbush had two of Hoosick Falls’ five hits. The Panthers struck out just three times, and Weeden said that was key.

"That’s been one of our things. If our girl doesn’t walk a girl, we have no errors ... and we don’t strike out much, we’re going to win the game," Weeden said. "Something good’s going to happen if you put it in play.

"Everybody says you need so many hits to win a game. No, we need no strikeouts, maybe a couple strikeouts, and we’ll win the game if we do that. We’ve got good enough pitching that it’s going to happen."

Hoosick Falls 5, Ticonderoga 2

Hoosick Falls 100 300 1 – 5 5 2
Ticonderoga 000 101 0 – 2 3 7
Quackenbush and Jones; Karkoski, Best (5) and Palandrani. WP- Quackenbush. LP- Karkoski. 2B- Quackenbush (HF), Karkoski (Ti), St. Andrews (Ti).

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All four Section II teams still alive Wednesday advanced to Saturday's New York State Final Four at Waterloo High School. For full brackets, click here to the New York State Sportswriters Association website.

Class A regional final
South Glens Falls 5, Massena 0

Class B regional final
Mechanicville 9, Peru 0

Class C regional final
Hoosick Falls 5, Ticonderoga 2

Class D regional final
Germantown 6, Crown Point 1

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