BKW softball caps season of firsts with state title
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BERNE, NY (NEWS10) -- This year's Berne-Knox-Westerlo softball team was the first team in program history to win a section title. They weren't done there, making history again this past weekend on Long Island.
The Bulldogs beat Bloomfield 1-0 on Saturday to win the Class C state title. "That might have been the happiest sports moment in my life," said head coach Jeff Muller. "It was like I couldn't even describe. It kind of reminded me of the 1996 World Series when the Yankees, after so many years, hadn't won a World Series and the ball went up with Charlie Hayes underneath it, caught it, and they won the World Series, breaking up a little bit of a slide where they hadn't won. It was was just unbelievable feeling."
"It means a lot," said senior Emma Cyr. "It's crazy, we've all been playing together for 13 years since tee-ball, and to be able to do this together and be a part of it, for us to be the team is crazy."
"It's amazing that we could do something like this, like bring this kind of attention to our school and the sport in general," said senior pitcher Sara Macrina. "I still can't believe that it actually is happening, or happened. I don't even know how to put it into words."
Macrina doesn't need words. She let her play do the talking. Macrina pitched a complete game shutout, guiding the Bulldogs to victory despite only tallying one hit. She also pitched a complete game shutout in BKW's extra inning section championship win over Hoosick Falls.
"Each batter is a battle," said Macrina. "Each play is a battle. Each pitch is a battle. I can't even take any credit, I feel like, because my team has my back all the time. There were some plays that were just insane. But it feels really good because like, it's a championship game and they didn't even score. It's nice, it's a shutout game and shutouts for pitchers, it's an accomplishment, so it feels really good."
This team hopes this is just the beginning of a new era of Bulldog softball. "Hopefully it means that they broke the ice," said Muller. "It can can help other sports. It can help grow our softball program to compete year after year."
"It's shining a light on what can just keep happening," said Macrina. "Seeing that we could do it, It's going to make younger girls coming up think that they can do it. Then maybe one day they can do it just like we did."