PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Cortland clinched the SUNYAC regular-season title and the right to host the league's six-team postseason tournament with a 7-2 win at Plattsburgh in the opening game of a doubleheader. The Red Dragons also won the second game, 3-1 in eight innings, on Kaleigh Churchill's (Camillus/West Genesee) two-out, two-run double in the top of the eighth.

Cortland (30-10, 16-2 SUNYAC) reached the 30-win mark for the 13th time in the last 14 years and won its first SUNYAC regular-season title since 2012. The Red Dragons will be the top seed in the SUNYAC tournament and will face Fredonia Thursday at 9 a.m. in the first of four games during the opening day. The other four teams will be second seed Geneseo, along with Oneonta, Buffalo State and Brockport (seeding of those three teams will be determined after Sunday's action).

GAME 1: Cortland 7, Plattsburgh 2 (Box Score)

Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley) rang up her third win of the week and 11th of the season with five shutout innings. She allowed only two hits and struck out four. Lachall retired the first 10 batters before Jacquelyn Decker's one-out single in the fourth. She also permitted a Lauren Graves two-out single in the fifth.

Cortland scored in the third on a Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) leadoff double, a Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) sac bunt and a Niki Barbato (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) two-out RBI single. The Red Dragons scored again in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) and Andrea Schoonmaker (Poughkeepsie/Marlboro).

The Red Dragons upped their lead to 5-0 in the fifth on a Mikayla Shade (Bethlehem) three-run homer. Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) led off with a double and Barbato reached on an infield single to set the table for Shade's fourth homer of the season. Cortland went up 6-0 in the sixth on a Bucci leadoff triple and a wild pitch.

Plattsburgh, playing its first home games of the season, scored twice on RBI infield singles by Brittany Marshall and Kelsey Gage in the sixth to cut Cortland's lead to 6-2.  Cortland tallied its final fun on a Devynn Wilder (Oswego) RBI fielder's choice in the seventh, and Kirstyn Alonzo (Mechanicville), who entered to start the sixth, pitched a hitless and scoreless seventh to secure the win.

Shade finished 2-for-4 with a homer, double and three RBI. Phillips was 2-for-3 with a  double and Barbato ended 2-for-4 with an RBI. Wolstenholme reached base three times on a hit and two walks and scored twice.

GAME 2: Cortland 3, Plattsburgh 1 (8 inn.) (Box Score)

The second game featured a pitching duel between Cortland's Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) and Plattsburgh's Kirsten Fisher. Flint allowed four hits and one unearned run with three strikeouts over six and two thirds innings and took a no-decision. Fisher allowed only four hits and one run through regulation before giving up two runs on three hits in the eighth.

Cortland broke through for a run in the fourth when Wolstenholme led off with a single, was bunted to second by Schoonmaker, advanced to third on a Churchill single and scored pinch hitter Carrie Stoddard's (Liverpool) sac fly to left.

Plattsburgh rallied to tie the game and put Cortland on the ropes in the bottom of the seventh. Marshall led off with a double and Hope VanBrocklin reached on a one-out error to put runners on first and second. Marshall eventually scored on a fielder's choice that created the second out, but a Taylor Smith single moved the potential winning run to third base.

Sarah Salamone (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) entered at that point and got the next hitter to ground into a fielder's choice for the final out. Cortland then responded with two runs in the eighth as Barbato singled and, with two outs, pinch runner Bianca Trio (Mahopac) stole second. Trio moved to third on a Schoonmaker infield single and Churchill doubled to left to drive in both runs. Salamone retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning for the victory and is now 8-4.

Barbato finished 2-for-3 with a walk and Churchill was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Marshall was 2-for-3 with two doubles for the Cardinals (10-22, 5-13 SUNYAC).