CORTLAND, N.Y. –
Niki Barbato's (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) three-run homer capped a five-run fourth inning as Cortland rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat St. John Fisher, 8-4, in the second game of a non-league doubleheader. St. John Fisher won the opener, 3-0, as Lindsey Thayer threw a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts.
Cortland (19-9) and Fisher (19-7) have now split eight of their nine doubleheaders since the series began in 2005. The only sweep was by Cortland on the road in 2011. The Red Dragons and Cardinals had their matchups canceled due to the weather in both 2013 and 2014.
Cortland will host Oswego Friday at 3 p.m. in a SUNYAC doubleheader.
Game 1: St. John Fisher 3, Cortland 0 (Box Score)
Thayer improved to 12-3 with her eighth shutout of the season. She the only hits she allowed were a
Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) leadoff infield single in the fourth and a
Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) leadoff bloop single to center in the seventh.
Sarah Salamone (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) started for Cortland and allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits in five and a third innings.
Katie Pitkin (Brownville/General Brown) gave up a run on three hits over the final inning and two thirds.
The Cardinals scored in the first on a Jennifer Knaak one-out infield single, errors on balls hit by the next two batters, and a Emma Savas RBI single to right. Salamone got the next batter to fly out and leave the bases loaded.
The game remained 1-0 until the sixth when Fisher strung together singles by Karlie Neale, Danielle Ventrone and Kate Disbrow, the last of which drove in a run. Meghan Burns led off the seventh with a homer to complete the scoring.
Game 2: Cortland 8, St. John Fisher 4 (Box Score)
Two Cortland errors helped the Cardinals scored three unearned runs in the top of the first, and another error led to a run in the second as the guests grabbed an early 4-0 lead.
The first started with a Katie Mazierski bunt single, an error on a fielder's choice and a Burns sac bunt. Lauren Owens singled off the pitcher's foot for an RBI, followed by a Savas sac fly. An error after the sac fly let Owens move from first to second, and she scored on a Neale single to center. In the second, Kristina Balsano singled with one out, moved to third on a two-out throwing error, and scored on a Burns infield single.
Cortland opened its go-ahead rally in the fourth with singles by
Carrie Stoddard (Liverpool),
Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) and pinch hitter
Courtney Kadish (East Amherst/Williamsville North).
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) drove home a run with a sac fly to cut the Fisher lead to 4-1.
The next batter, Bucci, hit a ground ball back to the pitcher. Churchill was caught off of third base and the pitcher threw to third to start a rundown. The third baseman, however, inexplicably abandoned the rundown to look at the other runners and Churchill scored standing up to bring Cortland within 4-2. Following a fielder's choice grounder for the second out, Barbato lined a three-run homer to left to give the Red Dragons a 5-4 lead.
Cortland tacked on three runs, one earned, in the fifth to create the final margin.
Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) and Stoddard started the inning with back-to-back doubles to score a run. Churchill reached on an error and
Jamie Corradina (Dobbs Ferry) walked to load the bases. One out later, Bucci walked to force in a run and Cork drove in the final run with a sac fly.
Kirstyn Alonzo (Mechanicville) pitched five sparkling innings of relief for the victory and is now 4-0. After allowing a two-out infield single in the third, she retired 12 straight batters before a two-out error in the seventh. She got a flyout to end the game, and she finished the game with five strikeouts.
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) started and allowed six hits and four unearned runs in two innings.
Halie Schoff started for St. John Fisher and was tagged for nine hits and eight runs, six earned, in five innings. She walked four batters. Kayla DePara pitched a scoreless sixth.
Mikayla Shade (Bethlehem) finished 2-for-3 and Stoddard went 2-for-4 for the Red Dragons. Barbato finished with three RBI on her homer and Bucci drove in two runs. Owens went 2-for-4 for Fisher.
