COLUMBUS, GA. – The nationally 23rd-ranked Cortland softball team scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth and withstood a late rally to defeat 10th-ranked Central College of Iowa, 7-5, to salvage a split of Day 2 action at the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Div. III Leadoff Classic. Earlier in the day, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to upend the Red Dragons, 8-7.

Cortland (1-3) will play DePauw University Sunday at 10 a.m. and an opponent to be determined at either noon or 2 p.m. in the tournament's Bronze bracket.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 8, Cortland 7 (8 inn.) (Box Score)

Cortland led 5-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Athenas (9-5) scored four times to tie the game. The Red Dragons then scored twice in the top of the eighth, but C-M-S won the game with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Seniors Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Cassie Kardias (Shrub Oak/Lakeland) each finished 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Red Dragons. Senior Nicole Gallo (Mount Sinai) drove in two runs. Sophomore Sarah Salamone (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) startedand pitched until being relieved with two outs in the sixth. She re-entered the game in the seventh and eventually took the loss. She allowed five runs, one earned, in six and two-thirds innings. She struck out six, walked six and gave up 10 hits.

Tara Robinson went 3-for-3 with two walks and two RBI to lead C-M-S. Michaela Ecklund finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and Megan Latta was 2-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs. Shannon O'Neill earned the win in relief after allowing five runs, two earned, in five and two-thirds innings.

Cortland scored on an RBI double by sophomore Courtney Kadish (Williamsville/Williamsville North) in the second and a one-out, bases-loaded error in the second. The lead grew to 4-0 in the sixth when Meola doubled in a run, took third on the throw and scored on a wild pitch.

After C-M-S scored in the sixth, Cortland picked up a run on a Gallo RBI single in the seventh to go up 5-1. The Athenas' game-tying rally in the bottom of the inning featured a Latta two-run single and two-out RBI singles by Janelle Shiozaki and Robinson. The tiebreaker rule, which places a runner on second to start the inning, was enacted in the eighth. Cortland scored twice on a Meaghan Kohler (Franklin, NJ/Warren Hills Regional) RBI single and a Kardias RBI groundout. C-M-S, however, scored on RBI singles by Mikayla O'Neal and Ecklund and plated the winning run on an error.

Cortland 7, Central 5 (Box Score)

Kadish finished 2-for-3 with a homer, double and two RBI and freshman Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) went 3-for-4 with a double and RBI as part of Cortland's nine-hit attack.

Junior Amber Corrigan (Montgomery/Valley Central) pitched a complete game for her first win as a Red Dragon. She allowed five runs, one earned, on nine hits and five walks and struck out four.

For Central (1-3), Jordan Overland finished 2-for-2, while Caitlyn Meyer and Emily Te Brink were each 2-for-4.

The Dutch took a 2-0 lead in the second on Rhianna Fleetwood's two-run single, but Cortland tied the game in the bottom of that inning on Kadish's leadoff homer and Cork's RBI single later in the frame. Central re-gained the lead in the fourth on a Whitney Sowers RBI fielder's choice.

Cork started the bottom of the fifth with a double and took third on an error. She scored two batters later on a Kardias single. After Gallo reached on an error, Kadish doubled to plate Kardias and give Cortland a 4-3 lead. Two more runs scored later on a fielder's choice and an error, and the final run was the result of a Corrigan squeeze bunt.

Central got a run back in the sixth on a Katie Canney RBI single. Down three entering the seventh, the Dutch loaded the bases on a one-out walk and singles by Meyer and Overland. An error on a ball hit by Kelsey Stender allowed a run to score and put the tying run on second base. Corrigan, however, got the next batter to hit a grounder to Meola at second. She tagged the runner heading to second and threw to first to complete the game-ending double play.