CORTLAND, N.Y. – Nicole Gallo (Mount Sinai) singled home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh and Sarah Salamone (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) threw a four-hit shutout as Cortland defeated Ithaca, 1-0, to earn a split of a non-league doubleheader against the Bombers. Ithaca won the first game, 6-5, in extra innings with a run in the top of the ninth. Cortland is 11-11 following the split and Ithaca is 13-7.

Game 1: Ithaca 6, Cortland 5 (9 inn.) (Box Score)

Cortland led 3-1 after six innings before a wild seventh frame sent the game into extra innings. Ithaca scored four runs in the top of the seventh on a Carianne D'Alessandro pinch-hit two-run single, a Jennifer Biondi RBI single and a Sydney Folk two-out, RBI single.

Cortland, however, rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) singled with one out and scored on a two-out Alicia Hibbard (Canastota) RBI double. Cassie Kardias (Shrub Oak/Lakeland) followed with a single to center that scored pinch runner Makaylee Dowd (Saratoga Springs).

In the top of the ninth, Jenna Tambasco reached second on a one-out error and scored on a Biondi double down the left field line. Cortland's first two batters in the bottom of the ninth reached as both Hibbard and Kardias singled, but Ithaca pitcher Laura Quicker retired the next three batters to end the game. Quicker tossed two scoreless innings for the win in relief of Sam Bender.

Cortland lost despite out-hitting the Bombers, 16-9. Gallo finished 3-for-4 with a walk and Kardias was 3-for-5. Briana Barca (Eastchester), Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta), Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Hibbard each recorded two hits. For Ithaca, Biondi went 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBI.

Cortland scored twice in the second on Wolstenholme and Barca RBI singles. Ithaca tallied in the fifth on a two-out wild pitch, and the Red Dragons scored in the sixth on a Barca RBI infield single.


Game 2: Cortland 1, Ithaca 0 (Box Score)

The nightcap featured a pitcher's duel between Salamone, who gave up four hits and a walk and struck out one, and Ithaca's Allison Macari, who permitted four hits, walked none and struck out three.

Cortland's winning rally started with a Hibbard leadoff double to left. Pinch runner Jennifer Ranieri (West Islip) moved to third on a Kardias groundout and scored when Gallo singled to center.

Ithaca had runners in scoring position twice – in the first after a Julianne Vincent bunt single and a Folk groundout and in the third on a Biondi two-out double. Cortland's best scoring threat in the one hour, six-minute game, prior to the seventh, came in the fourth when Meola singled with one out but was eventually stranded at third.

Gallo finished 2-for-3 and went a combined 5-for-7 with a walk in the doubleheader. Vincent was 2-for-3 for the Bombers.

Cortland will play a doubleheader at The University of Rochester on Wednesday at 3 p.m.