BUFFALO, N.Y. – Senior Katie Finch (Amsterdam/Broadalbin-Perth) tossed a perfect game as Cortland defeated Buffalo State, 2-0, in the opening game of a SUNYAC doubleheader. The nationally eighth-ranked Red Dragons (25-5, 10-0 SUNYAC) completed the sweep over the defending league champion Bengals with a 9-0 win in the second contest that was called after five innings due to the eight run rule.

Finch recorded her fifth collegiate no-hitter and her second perfect game. Her previous perfect game was a five-inning, eight-run win at Oswego during her freshman year. Finch also threw one no-hitter as a sophomore and two last season.

Finch struck out 11 batters in the contest. The closest she came to allowing a baserunner came in the seventh inning when leadoff hitter Sam Morse hit a bloop to second base that Donnalyn Cross (Binghamton/Chenango Valley) raced in on, fielded and fired to first to narrowly record the out.

Cortland scored a run in the second when Kayla Lynch (Albany/Colonie) singled, was bunted to second by Lorraine Stoddard (Liverpool) and scored on a Jessica Harman (Penfield) double. In the fourth, Harman walked with one out, went to second on a groundout and advanced the final two bases on a pair of wild pitches.

Right after Harman scored, the game was delayed by rain for two hours and 20 minutes. Despite the restart, Finch was able to come back and retire the final 12 batters to improve to 15-2 on the year. Cross finished the game 2-for-4 with a double and Harman was 1-for-2 with a walk. Jenna Frieling gave up seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts for the Bengals.

Finch then started game two and retired the three batters she faced to give her eight perfect innings on the day. Sophomore Lyndsay Rowell (Sandy Creek) entered in the second inning and earned the win with four shutout innings. She gave up four hits and no walks and struck out three and improved to 10-3. The game started at 6:55 p.m. but took only 59 minutes to complete.

Cortland scored six runs in the third on a Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) RBI single, a Stoddard two-run single and, following an intentional walk to Harman, a Sammi Dieffenbach (Erin/Horseheads) three-run double. In the fourth, Cross hit her 11th triple of the season and scored on an error. Harman completed the scoring in that inning with a two-run double.

Stoddard finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs and Harman was 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBI. Kaylee Lekki went 2-for-2 and Krista Baker was 1-for-1 with a hit-by-pitch for Buffalo State (13-15, 4-6 SUNYAC).

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score