A 7-0 start planted the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team in a familiar spot – the state Class A rankings, where it stood at no. 12 as last week’s scheduled game with East Syracuse-Minoa got postponed. In the meantime, the Red Rams took care of two other OHSL Freedom division opponents, starting Thursday with a 7-2 conquest of Mexico. J-D led 2-0 in the first inning, saw the Tigers tie it 2-2, and then answered with two more runs in the bottom of the second to move in front for good. Tessa Devereaux and Leetja Bryant each managed three hits, part of a 13- hit Rams attack. Mary Young, Rachel Honis, Meghan Engstrom and Jessica Sgromo drove in one run apiece as Devereaux scored a pair of runs. Meanwhile, Engstrom and Kerri Keeler assumed the usual split of pitching duties, combining for seven strikeouts and allowing just one walk between them. Two days later, the Red Rams combined a quick start with more terrific pitching from Engstrom and Keeler to shut out Chittenango 6-0. J-D got to Bears pitcher Kaleigh Koegel for four runs in the bottom of the first. Honis coaxed a bases-loaded walk, Young stole home and Engstrom capped it with a two-run single. Engstrom had another RBI single in the third, and she teamed with Keeler on a one-hitter. In her three-inning stint, Keeler struck out seven without allowing a walk. Just before it was first supposed to meet J-D, ESM faced Chittenango last Monday afternoon and needed a late comeback to push past the Bears 5-4. An early 2-0 lead vanished when Chittenango notched three runs off Julie Maselli in the top of the fifth inning. ESM stayed calm and, in the sixth, had a three-run rally of its own, and reliever Danielle Ventrone recorded the final three outs, despite the Bears scoring once to make it closer. Kierstan Albertson doubled twice, with Haley Wodarczyk adding her own pair of hits, including a triple, and earning an RBI. Maggie Kelly added an RBI as she, along with Maselli and Jamie Gallardo, scored runs, too. Not only did ESM’s game with J-D get pushed back, so did a non-league encounter with Onondaga, one of a long list of postponements everyone had to deal with. But the Spartans did get on the field Thursday, beating Fulton 6-3. The game was tied 2-2 when ESM used single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to go in front for good, tacking on two runs in the seventh for insurance. Maselli and Ventrone only allowed two hits, while ESM belted out 12. Wodarczyk, Kelly and Danielle Hobb each got two hits, with Hobb earning a pair of RBIs. Gallardo, Megan Kelly and Laura Adams drove in one run apiece. Christian Brothers Academy returned to action on Wednesday afternoon, going to Austin Park and using a big fourth inning as the key to a 9-7 victory over the Skaneateles Lakers. Down 2-1 going into the top of the fourth inning, the Brothers batted around in that frame and got six runs. Eventually, CBA’s lead grew to 9-2 before it had to fend off a furious late Laker rally. Clare Gollegly reached base five times with two hits, including a double, three walks and three runs scored. Jenn Merola scored twice as Hannah Morris posted a double and two RBIs. Despite her late struggles in the pitcher’s circle, Jordan Sheridan got the win, allowing 10 hits but striking out 13. She also drove in a run at the plate as Jessica Valerino also earned an RBI. Sheridan was even better in Thursday’s 6-0 shutout of Hannibal, holding the Warriors to three hits and striking out nine. Three-run rallies in the third and sixth innings proved enough as Gollegly and Merola each scored twice. Valerino, Kelly Bewley and Molly O’Brien earned one RBI apiece.