Saranac Lake’s Kaedyn Grant reaches second base after hitting a double to the outfield during Thursday’s game in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

SARANAC LAKE — After dropping the last two games and watching most of their games this week get postponed because of the weather, the Saranac Lake softball players looked like a completely different team against Plattsburgh on Thursday.

Backed by solid at-bats and even better defense, the Red Storm rode to an 11-2 victory at home over the previously undefeated Hornets.

“Today was huge. It felt awesome,” Red Storm head coach Gabby Lewis said. “They didn’t have their main pitcher, but we still played an awesome game. We’ve been talking about this game and preparing for it. It feels really good to win this. Karlie (Goetz) was on fire again.”

Goetz pitched a complete game for the Red Storm, striking out nine batters, walking two and hitting one. Plattsburgh’s Marissa Silver had two strikeouts in six innings. She also walked six batters and hit one.

Thursday’s game was the first time all season that Hornets had been held to a single-digit run total, dropping their overall record to 5-1. With the win, Saranac Lake improved to 4-3 after defeating Plattsburgh for the first time since 2019.

“I think people are starting to finally see us as a competitor this year,” Lewis said. “The future looks bright for these girls. I’m really excited for the next two-ish weeks in the short season that we have. I think what we are doing is really paying off and these girls are really working hard and hopefully it’s going to show in playoffs this year, too.”

The Red Storm got off to a hot start on Thursday after freshman Emma Akey was hit by a pitch to start the game. From that point on, Saranac Lake recorded seven straight singles, giving the team a 4-0 lead in the first, which it extended with one run in the second.

Trailing 5-0, Plattsburgh scored its only two runs of the game in the third inning, after Amaya Abellard hit a two-run double to the outfield. Goetz then dominated on the mound allowing just base runners over the next four innings.

The Red Storm piled on four runs in the fourth inning and two in the fifth.

While trailing big in the top of the seventh, the Hornets garnered some momentum after two base runners were able to reach second and third base with just one out. Abellard then smacked a line-drive into leftfield, however, Saranac Lake’s Ayla Small came away with a catch which held both runners at their respective bases. Goetz then closed out the game with a strikeout.

“Even the Plattsburgh coach was like ‘How did she catch that?’ That’s what I want to hear,” Lewis said. “(Small) has been great and her bat came alive tonight. I’ve been waiting for that.”

Small recorded three hits in the game, all of which were singles. Goetz led the charge from the plate, with four hits — three singles and a double. Akey, Mia Nichols, Kylee Meyer and Kaedyn Grant connected on two hits each in the win.

Lewis said it was a complete team effort as every Red Storm batter was able to reach base at least once. The team recorded 16 total hits in the win.

“Our bats came alive and we now have three games in the next four days,” Lewis said. “I’m hoping to bring this right straight through. Their confidence is going up.”

The Red Storm were slated to take on Beekmantown on Friday, before traveling for its next two games against AuSable Valley today and Peru on Monday. Today’s game will start at 10 a.m. and Monday’s is set for 4:30 p.m.