Banners which read "We Love Our Seniors" and "Good Luck Seniors" decorated the fence of Yorktown's softball field Wednesday night, as the Huskers' slew of significant seniors gathered for the annual Senior Day festivities.
Fitting for the occasion, because every one of the seniors had a hand in the Huskers' 6-1 shellacking of Lakeland. Yorktown swept the home-and-home series, having scored a 9-2 victory over their longtime blood rivals at Shrub Oak the prior game.
The Huskies rode the senior leadership in the second inning, when they broke a 1-1 tie while simultaneously breaking open the game.
Senior Christina Leader and freshman Laura Pironi smacked a pair of RBI singles into gaps, as Yorktown opened up a 3-1 lead.
Senior Nicole Kahn kick-started the offensive fireworks, depositing a deep double off of Lakeland's Katie Champagne (5 IP, 5 ER).
"We have a great group of (senior) girls," explained Huskers coach Becky Bronzi, whose team now stands at 13-6.
"They're all very close. Eight of our nine seniors are starters and they're all going to be sorely missed next year."
The Huskers continued to remove the sting from the Hornets, extending the lead and keeping the Hornets' bats arctic on the defensive side.
Yorktown added a pair of runs on Erica Wenzel's fourth inning dinger. Wenzel, another senior, launched a two-run jack to fatten Yorktown's lead to 5-1. After rounding the bases, Wenzel was mobbed by a crowd of her revved-up teammates at home plate.
The titanic shot proved to be the big blow during a righteous regular season sendoff for the Huskers' class of 2010.
Senior Carolyn Farmer recorded the win on the hill for the Huskers, as the No.1 hurler kept the Hornets off balance by inducing a surplus of ground balls, pop ups, and foul balls.
Shaking off two errors, Yorktown's defense backed Farmer, who emerged from an early two on, one-out situation unscathed.
Since a 22-0 bludgeoning of a hapless Saunders team, the Huskers have reeled off a sizzling eight-game win- treak.
Bronzi and the Huskers seem to have lofty expectations to return to the Section I title game, where the Huskers copped back-to-back championship hardware during the 2007 and 2008 campaigns.
Bronzi said the focus is always on the next game.
"We take everything game by game. I think this year, we have the potential to go very far. We're putting a little more focus on defense. We're shooting for perfection."
The Hornets were outhit by a 9-5 margin.
Farmer continued to keep them out of whack in the latter innings, keeping runners in scoring position. She tossed a 1-2-3 inning in the third.
Leader's bases-loaded RBI single in the fifth swelled Yorktown's lead to 6-1.
Leader and Erica Wenzel each registered two hits and two RBI to energize the Huskers. Leanne Farmer added two hits and an RBI. Nicole Kahn and Laura Pironi eached deposited a pair of doubles.
Lindsey Dring paced the Hornets with two hits.
"Yorktown is a solid team defensively, any time you put it in play they can get to it and make a quick out," said Lakeland coach Joe Chiara.
"We knew heading into this year, with the league were in, you have to be ready to play night in and night out. To their credit, their pitcher did a great job."