BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Freshman
Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) doubled home freshman
Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning as Cortland remained unbeaten at the SUNYAC Tournament with a 2-1 victory over Plattsburgh.
Cortland (26-14) is 2-0 entering the Saturday's play and is one of three teams still alive. Plattsburgh (23-15) and Geneseo are both 2-1. Cortland will face Plattsburgh Saturday at 11 a.m. and Geneseo to follow at approximately 1 p.m. If the Red Dragons win both games, they win the SUNYAC title. If they lose both games, Plattsburgh and Geneseo will play for the title Sunday. If Cortland wins one of the two games, it will play the team it loses to again on Sunday for the championship.
The 13-inning contest is Cortland's longest game since its 21-inning game at Div. II Le Moyne in 1992. That game is still the NCAA record for longest game played by a Div. III school.
Bucci started the winning rally with two outs when she reached on a bunt single. Cork, who was 0-for-5 previously in the game, followed with a double to left center and the speedy Bucci, running on contact, easily scored to send Cortland's players streaming from the dugout in celebration.
The game featured a pitching duel between Cortland junior
Amber Corrigan (Montgomery/Valley Central) and Plattsburgh senior Ashley Marshall, last year's SUNYAC Pitcher of the Year, who both threw complete games. Corrigan, now 12-4, allowed seven hits and six walks and struck out eight in 13 innings. Marshall, who dropped to 20-6 with the loss, struck out 13 batters in 12 and two-thirds innings. She gave up five hits and three walks.
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on an
Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) solo homer, her second home run of the tournament. Plattsburgh tied the game in the top of the sixth when Brianna Clarke walked, was bunted to second by Michelle Iannone, went to third on a groundout and scored on Samantha Capobianco's RBI single.
Cortland loaded the bases in the sixth on a Bucci single, a one-out
Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) walk and a two-out
Cassie Kardias (Shrub Oak/Lakeland) walk, but Marshall struck out the next batter to end the inning.
In the top of the eighth, Plattsburgh's Brittany Marshall led off with a single and Clarke walked. Iannone bunted the runners up, but Corrigan got the next batter to foul out for the second out. The Red Dragons then elected to intentionally walk Capobianco to load the bases, and a groundout ended the threat.
Cortland had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth before a double play ended the inning. Marshall retired the side in order in each of the next four innings as well as the first two batters in the 13th before Cortland mounted its winning rally.
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