ELBRIDGE - After the larger-than-normal crowd had dispersed from Elbridge Elementary School's Brown Street Field on Monday, temporarily leaving the hopes and expectations of the fans, an entire school district and New York State record keepers in the pitcher's circle, something important seemed to casually slide to the back burner

It was the incredible resilience the Jordan-Elbridge softball team (11-1) had just shown over Altmar-Parish-Williamstown. Instead of the two-run home run that Eagles thrower Colleen Ryan had just belted to give her team a 13-11 win in the bottom of the eighth inning, there were mostly murmurs of speculation about the looming state strikeout record that lingered throughout the entire game. The three year old 1,278 milestone might be drawing in bigger crowds wherever the Eagles play lately, but the inevitable record holder has made it clear that it isn't among her highest priorities on the softball field.

“I don't even think about it at all,” Ryan said. “I don't even know how many strikeouts I have.”

The Stoneybrook-bound pitcher was 21 away from breaking one of the biggest records in softball before the game and afterwards, has 14 more to go before the milestone - and all of the unnecessary pressure - is behind her. Ryan pitched a one-hitter in 4 1-3 innings of work before sophomore Erica Peterson made her first pitching appearance of the season. “I was really nervous because I had the big shoes to fill, but I just went out there and tried to help out the team,” Peterson said

Ryan swapped positions with the second baseman and while she wasn't able to earn the win in the circle, she got it with her big bat. After walking seven APW batters and allowing eight runs, the senior took out any frustration on the neon yellow ball, ripping five RBIs on two homers and a single.

“We had some good hits and Colleen really belted those balls,” Eagles coach Joe Ryan said. “That's the main thing is that she has to relax and play her game. She's a very talented kid. She came here this weekend and pitched and she was breaking plates all over the place. This whole thing (with the record) has gotten to be too much.”

While the state record has never defined how great a thrower Colleen Ryan is, she has eight regular season games left to put it behind her, starting today against Solvay at Onondaga Lake Park.

“She'll get it,” Joe Ryan said. “She'll come right back, tuned up and she'll get on with it.”

Colleen Ryan and the Eagles retired batters in order in the first two innings, sitting comfortably on a 3-0 lead thanks to a Samantha Kuhn three-run triple in the first. But five Rebels batters scored in the third, though none was batted in. Erin Mills got the only hit off Ryan, a triple with the bases empty.

Jordan-Elbridge's pitcher responded to her own uncharacteristic inning by breaking the second Dana Sproule pitch deep into left field for a solo home run. After seven APW runs had scored - one on an infield error - and Sproule became the third batter to reach third in the fifth, Peterson came in to relieve Ryan and eventually earned her first career win. Becca Britton sliced an RBI single to center field to give the Rebels four runs in the inning and a five-run advantage over the defending Section III Class B champions.

“We got through it together,” Peterson said. “We kept cheering each other on and it seemed to help us out a lot.”

The Eagles rose to the occasion again in the bottom of the inning when Sarah Fordyce led off with a triple on the first pitch. Peterson drew a walk before Ryan brought them both in on a long single to left center field. She then scored on a Keelia McGuire RBI single, the first one of the season for the junior.

With one out in the sixth, though, the Eagles took another couple steps backward when Brooke Radley hit a two-run home run with only one out. Next, an error and a couple of wild pitches brought Sproule to third base for the third time in the game before the Eagles bounced back yet again. Peterson fanned Mackenzie Baxter looking in four pitches and Tiffany Curry hit right to Ryan at second, who made the routine throw to Fordyce at first to get the team out of the inning.

Eagles 13

Rebels 11

However, the spotlight on the Eagles' resilience shined the brightest in the bottom of the seventh. Sproule (seven strikeouts) walked the first three Eagles batters before senior Samantha Mickle became the second batter in the No. 6 spot to bring in a run when a fielder's choice to second base scored Ryan. Freshman Lindsy Geery drew the final walk from Sproule, who had eight overall, to load the bases again. Sarah Hart promptly ripped a three-run double to send her team into extra innings for the second consecutive Monday.

“It had to be done,” Hart said. “A whole bunch of us had a good eye out there and got on base with some walks and a hit, it was just my turn. I was struggling at the plate earlier and I just finally hit it.”

When the Eagles got out of the eighth inning with one batter on the bags, including a phenomenal grab by catcher Hart that nearly sent her into a nose-dive against the backstop fence on a Radley pop fly, it was all the momentum they needed to believe they could win.

“I just wanted to get us out of the inning,” Hart said. “We really needed to get back up again because we were all was fired up at that point.”

With Peterson on first after her third walk of the game, Ryan blasted the game winning home run off Baxter not far from where she hit the first one. It was her fifth of the season and the first multiple home run game of her career.

“It shows the strength of this team and the confidence that we have in each other,” Hart said. “We had to go to a second pitcher and we had to come back from a large deficit and it shows that we keep our heads up for the entire game. We showed how strong we are as a team.”

And on a softball field, that is the most important thing.