EAU CLAIRE, WIS. – Cortland rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh and junior Amber Corrigan (Montgomery/Valley Central) threw a four-hitter as the Red Dragons upset nationally top-ranked Salisbury University, 2-1, to open play at the NCAA Div. III Softball World Series.

The Red Dragons (33-15) will face Luther College (Iowa) Saturday at 4 p.m. (Central) in a winner's bracket game. Salisbury (39-3) will play in an elimination game Saturday at 11 a.m. vs. Anderson University (Ind.).

Corrigan outdueled Salisbury starter Rachel Johnson and is now 19-5 on the season. Corrigan struck out two and walked five. Johnson fanned 13 batters and allowed five hits and two walks. She entered the game with a sparkling 26-1 record and 0.64 ERA.

Trailing 1-0, the Red Dragons started their go-ahead rally when freshman Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) drew a leadoff walk. Freshman Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) followed with a single up the middle to extend her hitting streak to 14 games and advance Bucci to second. Senior Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) then hit a double to left center to drive in Bucci and put runners on second and third with no outs.

Johnson struck out the next batter for the first out, but senior Cassie Kardias (Shrub Oak/Lakeland) hit a fly ball to left for a sacrifice fly that plated Cork with the lead run.

Salisbury threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Carly Read led off with a single and was bunted to second by Angelia McDowell. Corrigan got a flyout for the second out, but walked Sarah Alpaugh to put the potential winning run on base. A grounder to short, however, resulted in the game-ending force out at second.

The Sea Gulls took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Lindsay McCabe walked, was bunted to second by Read and moved to third on a McDowell bunt. Harley Hill's single up the middle drove in the run.

Cortland threatened in the second, third and fourth innings but couldn't break through in those frames versus Johnson. Senior Nicole Gallo (Mount Sinai) hit a one-out double in the second but was stranded. In the third, Bucci reached on an error and moved to second on a Meola one-out single but went no farther. In the fourth, Gallo singled with one out, Barca was hit by a pitch with two outs and Bucci reached on an error to load the bases. Johnson, however, struck out Cork to end the threat.

Gallo and Meola each finished 2-for-3 for the Red Dragons. Read was 1-for-2 and Alpaugh reached base three times on walks for Salisbury.

OTHER ITEMS:  Sean Yengo, a 1991 Cortland graduate and former Red Dragon wrestler and men's soccer player, is currently the women's soccer coach at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and his family is serving as the host family for the Red Dragon squad at the World Series. He provided a pancake breakfast for the entire team at his home the day before the tournament started...Cortland had lost twice to Salisbury previously this season at the Salisbury Invitational, 8-2 and 11-0.

Box Score/Play-by-Play

Watch Game Replay

Cortland Post-Game Press Conference

Day 1 Video Recap (all four games)

NCAA Interactive Bracket

NCAA.com Feature Story on Amber Corrigan