AUBURNDALE, FLA. – The Cortland softball team, ranked fifth nationally in Div. III, concluded its season-opening Rebel Spring Games schedule with a 5-5 record after dropping a pair of one-run decisions. The Red Dragons lost to Washington College (Md.), 8-7, and St. Scholastica of Minnesota, 2-1.
Washington 8, Cortland 7 (Box Score)
Washington College, an NCAA tournament qualifier last season, scored eight runs in the top of the fourth inning to erase a 5-0 Cortland lead. The Red Dragons came back with two runs in the fifth, but left two runners on in the sixth and one more in the seventh.
Carrie Stoddard (Liverpool) finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and
Courtney Kadish (East Amherst/Williamsville North) was 2-for-4 with a triple, double and two RBI to lead Cortland's 11-hit attack.
Meaghan Kohler (Franklin, NJ/Warren Hills Regional) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and
Briana Barca (Eastchester) ended 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Washington (10-1) was led by Suzanne Patinella and Kristin Cooper, who each finished 2-for-4 with two RBI. Kylie Nottingham went 2-for-3 and Paige Briganti was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.
Kristin Cooper earned the win after entering in relief in the third inning. She gave up five hits and two runs, walked one and struck out three. Cortland starter
Amber Corrigan (Montgomery/Valley Central) took the loss after allowing six hits and six runs, five earned, in three and a third innings. She walked four and fanned one.
Cortland scored four runs in the bottom of the second.
Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) doubled with one out and scored on a Kadish RBI triple. Stoddard singled in Kadish, Barca singled and a wild pitch moved pinch runner
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) and Barca to second and third. Corrigan's squeeze bunt drove in a run when Phillips beat the throw home, and a
Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) groundout scored Barca. The Red Dragons added a run in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Stoddard.
The Shorewomen sent 12 batters to the plate during their eight-run fourth inning. Cooper and Kelsey Graham each singled, and Claire Hofstedt reached on an error with Cooper scoring. Two walks followed, the latter drawn by Briganti forcing in a run. Caitlyn Kirby reached on a fielder's choice to drive in a run, Nottingham singled and Lauren Dockrill hit an RBI single. Patinella and Cooper followed with back-to-back two-run singles to complete the scoring.
In the Cortland fifth, Kohler led off with a double and scored on a Kadish one-out double. Barca's two-out RBI single cut the Washington lead to 8-7. Barca stole second but was stranded there.
Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) doubled with one out in the sixth and Stoddard singled with one out in the seventh, but Cortland was unable to capitalize in either instance.
St. Scholastica 2, Cortland 1 (Box Score)
St. Scholastica's Chrisi Mizera threw a five-hitter and provided the Saints' scoring with a two-run double in the fourth. Hannah Borgeson and Sydney Gordon each singled with one out. With two outs, Mizera hit for the ninth batter in the lineup and doubled to right center to give CSS a 2-0 lead.
Cortland answered in the top of the fifth.
Makaylee Dowd (Saratoga Springs) led off with a pinch-hit double as she legged out a ball hit to shallow center field. She moved to third on a one-out groundout and Kohler walked to put runners on first and third.
Alicia Hibbard (Canastota) singled to the gap in right to drive in Dowd. Koehler was waved around in an attempt to score the tying run but was thrown out to end the inning. The Red Dragons did not get a runner past first base the final two innings.
Borgeson was 2-for-2 with a double as part of a balanced seven-hit attack for CSS. Dowd and Kadish were each 1-for-2, with Kadish also drawing a walk, to lead Cortland.
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) started for Cortland and allowed two runs on six hits and a walk in four innings. She struck out three.
Jamie Lachall (Aston, PA/Sun Valley) gave up one hit and one walk in two scoreless innings of relief.
