CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland stayed alive in the SUNYAC Softball Tournament with wins over Brockport, 7-1, and previously tournament unbeaten Geneseo, 5-4. The Red Dragons (34-11), the tournament's top seed and ranked 22nd nationally, will face second-seeded Geneseo (28-11) again Sunday at noon at Cortland's Dragon Field in a winner-take-all title game.
Cortland 7, Brockport 1 (Box Score)Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley) earned the win over the Golden Eagles with a complete-game three-hitter. She struck out two, walked none and allowed one run to improve her record to 13-3 on the season.
Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) provided the game's biggest hit with a three-run homer as part of a four-run third inning that gave Cortland a 5-1 lead. The Red Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the second on a
Courtney Kadish (East Amherst/Williamsville North) pinch-hit RBI bases-loaded walk.
Brockport tied the game in the third on Brianna Ferchen's RBI single, but Cortland opened the bottom of the third with an
Andrea Schoonmaker (Poughkeepsie/Marlboro) infield single, a
Niki Barbato (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) double and, with one out, an
Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) RBI infield single. Churchill followed with a three-run blast to left center.
Cortland's final two runs came in the fourth on a Barbato RBI single and a
Mikayla Shade (Bethlehem) sac fly. Brockport threatened in fifth but had two runners thrown out going from second to third on fielder's choice grounders to Wolstenholme at short. Lachall retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh frames.
Wolstenholme went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs. Schoonmaker and Barbato each finished 2-for-4, with Schoonmaker scoring twice. Ferchen finished 2-for-3 to account for two of Brockport's three hits. Jaime Berger was charged with three runs in two innings and Korey Kibling gave up four runs in four innings.
Cortland 5, Geneseo 4 (Box Score)Geneseo, looking to win its first SUNYAC title since 2002, got off to a great start in what could have been the tournament-clinching game for the Knights. Geneseo scored in the second on an Emily Martin leadoff double and Cat Krok one-out RBI double, and added two in the bottom of the third on a Kayleigh Blersch sac fly and Martin RBI single. Geneseo was the "home" team in the game by virtue of being the lone undefeated team through the tournament's first nine games.
Geneseo starter Corrin Spallone retired the first nine batters she faced, five by strikeout. In the fourth, however,
Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) led off with a fly ball that fell into shallow left center for Cortland's first hit. After a Schoonmaker sac bunt, Barbato hit a two-run homer to left to cut Cortland's deficit to 3-2.
In the top of the fifth, Churchill led off with an infield single and was bunted to second by
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Lourdes). Pinch hitter
Carrie Stoddard (Liverpool) singled to right center to move Churchill to third.
Jamie Bucci (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) then lined a triple over the center fielder's head to drive in pinch runner
Bianca Trio (Mahopac) and re-entered
Devynn Wilder (Oswego) to give Cortland a 4-3 lead. Cork then singled through the left side to drive in Bucci for what proved to be an important insurance run.
Geneseo had a rally in the fourth stifled when a runner was called out at second base for leaving too early prior to a pitch delivery. The Knights managed only one baserunner, on an error, through the next two innings. In the seventh, however, Sami Brown singled with one out and took both second and third after tagging up on a fly out. The next batter then appeared to ground out to end the game, but the throw was dropped at first to allow Brown to score. The potential tournament-winning run then came to the plate, but a groundout to second ended the contest.
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) went the distance for the win. She gave up eight hits, two over the last four innings, walked two and fanned three. She was charged with four runs, three earned. Spallone finished with eight strikeouts and only one walk, gave up seven hits and allowed five runs.
Cork finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Barbato and Bucci each went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Martin, Brown and Ashley Fillmore each registered two hits for the Knights.
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