ASTON, PA. – Junior pitcher
Sarah Salamone (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) scattered seven hits over a complete-game performance as Cortland defeated Neumann, 8-3, to earn a split of a non-league doubleheader. The host Knights won the opener, 9-5, after trailing 5-0 in the second inning.
Cortland's doubleheader at Nazareth on Tuesday, March 25, has been postponed and will be made up on April 24.
GAME 1: Neumann 9, Cortland 5 (Box Score)
The bottom five hitters in Neumann's lineup recorded a combined eight hits and nine RBI as the Knights rallied for the victory in Game 1. Megan Williams was 3-for-3 with a walk and RBI and Jamie Scannella finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Becky Guinto was 1-for-2 with two walks, two RBI and two runs, Lauren Wilkie drove in three runs and Katie Halter added an RBI.
Wilkie also went the distance for the victory in the circle. She gave up five runs, one earned, on eight hits in seven innings. She struck out two and walked none.
Carrie Stoddard (Liverpool) and
Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) each finished 2-for-3 and
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) went 1-for-2. Stoddard drove in two runs.
Jamie Lachall (Aston, PA/Sun Valley), playing in her hometown, started but was pulled in the third after allowing five hits, four walks and five runs in a two and a third innings.
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) suffered the loss after giving up the four runs, three earned, in the fourth that broke a 5-5 tie. She permitted six hits, walked three and struck out one.
Cortland grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first on a Stoddard two-run single. The lead grew with three runs in the second on a
Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) RBI infield single, an error and a
Leah Saavedra (Walworth/Wayne Central) RBI single.
Neumann scored in the second on a Halter fielder's choice but left the bases loaded. The Knights tied the game with four in the third on a Guinto two-run double and Wilkie two-run single. The hosts put up another four-spot in the fourth as Scanella singled in two runs, Williams hit an RBI single and Wilkie plated a run with a sacrifice fly.
Wilkie retired 11 straight batters from the end of the second inning before allowing a Stoddard leadoff double in the sixth. The Red Dragons left runners on first and third that inning and went down in order in the seventh.
GAME 2: Cortland 8, Neumann 3 (Box Score)
Salamone improved to 2-0 with her second win in as many days. She struck out four and walked four. Wolstenholme finished 2-for-4 with an RBI,
Courtney Kadish (East Amherst/Williamsville North) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Cork went 1-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and two runs.
The Red Dragons scored in the first on a
Meaghan Kohler (Franklin, NJ/Warren Hills Regional) RBI groundout, and Neumann tied the game on Scannella's RBI groundout. Cortland took the lead for good with four runs in the second. Phillips walked with two outs and a runner on, and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Cork hit a two-run single to left and Wolstenholme drove in a run with a single to center. The final run scored on an error.
Saavedra's RBI double in the third extended the lead to 6-1. Neumann got a run in the third on a Becca Reinhart leadoff triple and Allie White RBI groundout, and the Knights posted a serious threat in the fourth. They loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Kristin Beaty and Williams and a Julie Stipa walk. Salamone, however, got the next two hitters to ground to third for force outs at home, then struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Cortland's final two runs came in the seventh.
Alicia Hibbard (Canastota) homered to left to start the inning, and singles by Kohler and Kadish set up an RBI double by
Makaylee Dowd (Saratoga Springs). Neumann closed the scoring on a White RBI double in the bottom of the inning.
Reinhart went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs to lead the Knights. Allyson Parris gave up five runs, one earned, in an inning and two thirds and took the loss.
