KISSIMMEE, FLA. – The Cortland softball team, ranked 18th nationally in Division III, split two games on the third day of its Florida trip. The Red Dragons lost to Rowan University, 8-4, before bouncing back to beat Skidmore, 12-7.
 
Cortland (4-2) is off Wednesday and will return to action Thursday versus Lesley (Mass.) at 11:15 a.m. and Franklin & Marshall at 3:45 p.m.
 
Rowan 8, Cortland 4
 
Morgan Smith hit two of Rowan's four solo homers to lead the Profs (8-5) to the victory. Rowan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on three solo shots – a leadoff homer by Shilah Snead and two-out homers by Nicole Paiotti and Smith.
 
Cortland starter Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) settled down after the first and kept Rowan off the board the next four innings. The Red Dragons got two runs back in the third to cut their deficit to 3-2. Stephanie Tirone (Amherst/Williamsville South) walked and Erin Wolstenholme (Oneonta) was safe on an error during a sac bunt to put runners on first and third. Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) singled home Tirone and Jamie Bucci's (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow) fielder's choice drove in Wolstenholme.
 
Rowan broke the game open with five runs in the sixth. Smith led off with her second homer of the game. Another run scored on an Alyssa Sims RBI single, and the last three runs came in as a result of two Cortland errors. Cortland closed the scoring in the top of the seventh on an Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) two-run double.
 
Five Rowan players finished with two hits apiece. Smith was 2-for-3 with two RBI, Paiotti and Sims each went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Mia Baldassari ended 2-for-3 and Snead was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. For Cortland, Phillips went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Bucci was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
Beth Ann Hyland earned the win for Rowan. She gave up seven hits and four runs, three earned. She struck out eight and walked three. Flint gave up five runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley) allowed three unearned runs and struck out three in one inning after entering during the sixth.
 
Cortland 12, Skidmore 7
 
Cortland led 11-1 after four innings before a late Skidmore rally made things interesting. The Thoroughbreds (2-4) scored five runs in the top of the fifth and a run in the sixth to close within 11-7. Cortland added a run in the top of the seventh and escaped a mile Skidmore rally in the bottom of the inning.
 
Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) picked up her first collegiate win with five and two thirds innings in the circle. She allowed seven runs, three earned, on 10 hits and two walks and she fanned two batters. Abigail LeBarron (Ballston Spa) entered with two outs in the sixth with two runners on and Cortland up 11-7. She got a lineout to end the threat, and pitched a scoreless seventh for her first save.
 
Cortland scored on an error in the first, and the Red Dragons tallied five in the second on RBI singles by Wolstenholme and Bucci and a Diane Cork (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) three-run homer. Jessica Marsh (Wynantskill/Troy) drew a bases-loaded walk as a pinch hitter in the third.
 
Cortland's four-run fourth featured a Hannah Feldman (Amherst/Sweet Home) RBI single, a Lachall RBI fielder's choice and a Sabrina Kraska (Eden) sac fly.
 
Skidmore scored once in the third on Lauren Fortunato's sac fly. The Thoroughbreds used a combination of four hits and two Cortland errors to score their five runs in the fifth. Fortunato hit a two-run double and Lila Rosenfeld an RBI single during that stretch. Cassie Fishkin singled in a run for Skidmore in the sixth.
 
Mikayla Shade (Bethlehem) went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored for Cortland. Jamie Corradina (Dobbs Ferry) was 2-for-2 with a double, Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) ended 2-for-3 with a double and Cork was 1-for-3 with her three-run homer.
 
For Skidmore, Fortunato went 3-for-3 with a double, three RBI and two runs and Rosenfeld was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Karly Fishkin and Kristina Foley each went 2-for-5 with a run, with Fishkin doubling twice. Cassie Fishkin started for Skidmore and also re-entered in the fifth and allowed seven hits and seven runs, five earned, in a total of three and two thirds innings.