KISSIMMEE, FLA. –
Skyler Hoyt (Endicott/Union-Endicott) went a combined 5-for-7 with a homer, triple, three doubles, walk, three RBI and four runs scored as Cortland earned wins over Hamilton, 15-9, and Westminster (Pa.), 9-2, at the Rebel Spring Games softball tournament.
Cortland evened its season record at 3-3 with the victories. The Red Dragons will face Illinois Wesleyan and William Paterson Thursday at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., respectively.
Cortland 15, Hamilton 9
Cortland trailed 4-1 after three innings to the Continentals (0-4), but came back with two runs in the fourth and eight in the fifth to take an 11-4 lead. The Red Dragons added three in the sixth and one in the seventh and won by six runs despite being outhit by the Continentals, 16-15.
Niki Barbato (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) finished 4-for-5 with a double, RBI and three runs scored. Hoyt went 3-for-4 with three doubles, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored, and
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) was 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Kelly O'Gorman finished with two walks, two sacrifice flies and two RBI in five plate appearances.
The top five hitters in Hamilton's lineup accounted for 14 of the Continentals' 16 hits. Daphne Assimakipoulos went 4-for-4 with a double and four RBI and Emily Fraser was 4-for-5 with two RBI. Ashleah Yzaguirre, Caitlin Berreitter and Kendall Searcyss each finished 2-for-4 with a walk. Yzaguirre and Searcyss scored three runs apiece and Berreitter scored twice and drove in a run.
Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) entered in relief in the bottom of the third inning and earned the win when Cortland eventually took the lead for good in the fifth.
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) started and pitched the first two and a third innings. She later re-entered and struck out two batters to escape a second-and-third jam in the sixth, and she allowed two runs in the seventh.
Hamilton took its 4-1 lead with three runs in the third on a Fraser RBI single and sac flies by Assimakopoulos and Phoebe Collins.
Cortland got back two runs in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk by pinch hitter
Jessica Marsh (Wynantskill/Troy) and O'Gorman's second sac fly of the game. The Red Dragons sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth, with the big plays in the frame RBI singles by Barbato and
Sabrina Kraska (Eden), a two-run single by Phillips, and an RBI on a grounder by
Mikayla Shade (Glenmont/Bethlehem), with another run scoring on the play due to an error.
Cortland's three-run sixth featured back-to-back doubles by Barbato and Hoyt, a Phillips RBI single, and a Shade bases-loaded walk. Hamilton's final four runs came via a two-run double by Assimakopoulos in the sixth, and RBI singles by Berreitter and Fraser in the seventh.
Cortland 9, Westminster 2
Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley) scattered seven hits and allowed two unearned runs in a complete-game effort for her first win of the season. She walked one batter. Kayla Troxil started for the Titans (6-4) and took the loss after allowing five runs, four earned, in three innings. She gave up six hits. Natalie Sewell permitted three hits and four runs, one earned, in three innings out of the bullpen.
Cortland grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on an O'Gorman one-out triple and a Shade RBI groundout, and Hoyt hit a solo homer to left in the second. The Red Dragons scored three in the third to push their lead to 5-0. The inning started with a Phillips infield single, an
Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) bunt single, and an O'Gorman single up the middle to load the bases. Shade hit a sac fly to left to drive home Phillips. On the play, Schoonmaker and O'Gorman moved up on the throw home, and when that throw eluded the catcher, Schoonmaker came in to score and O'Gorman went to third.
Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) followed with an RBI single up the middle.
Westminster put up two runs in the fifth on an error, an Alexa Owrey single, a Hannah Ritter sac bunt, an Emily Lindsey RBI groundout, and a Francesca Nardone RBI single. Lachall, however, retired the next five batters she faced before allowing two infield singles in the seventh. She wrapped up the game by inducing a lineout and a flyout.
Cortland tallied a run in the fifth on a Shade RBI single and three in the sixth on Hoyt's RBI triple, an
Amber Rice (Parish/A-P-W) RBI single, and O'Gorman's third sac fly of the day.
Hoyt finished the game 2-for-3 with a homer, triple, two RBI and two runs scored. O'Gorman was 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI and three runs, and Shade drove in three runs. For Westminster, Ritter finished 2-for-2 and Owrey was 2-for-3.
