POTSDAM, N.Y. -
Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley) and
Alexandrea Flint (Dalton/Keshequa) each registered complete-game wins with career-high strikeout totals and Cortland's offense rang up 12 hits in each game as the nationally 22nd-ranked Red Dragons earned a 6-2 and 12-0 sweep at Potsdam. The second game was called after five innings due to the eight-run rule.
Cortland improved to 19-7 overall and leads the SUNYAC with an 8-0 record. The Red Dragons will play at Plattsburgh (8-2 SUNYAC) Saturday in a noon doubleheader.
Cortland 6, Potsdam 2
Cortland fell behind 2-0 on Lauren Brace's two-run homer in the bottom of the first, but the Red Dragons quickly answered and held the Bears scoreless the rest of the afternoon.
Victoria Brown (Fresh Meadows/Archbishop Molloy) finished 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI and
Rosie Phillips (Geneva/Our Lady of Mercy) went 4-for-4 for her first career four-hit game to lead the Cortland offense.
Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and
Kelly O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) ended 1-for-3 with a walk, RBI and two runs.
Lachall, now 7-3, allowed five hits and no walks over seven innings. Her seven strikeouts match her career high set earlier this season versus Illinois Wesleyan. Potsdam starter Alissa McCauley allowed six runs on 12 hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Cortland tied the game at 2-2 in the second on a Brown RBI single and a
Chelsea Palma (Holbrook/Sachem North) sacrifice fly on a ball dropped in deep center. The Red Dragons scored their other four runs in the third. Churchill doubled,
Niki Barbato (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) singled, and O'Gorman drove in Churchill with a bunt single. Brown followed with a three-run blast to left.
Cortland 12, Potsdam 0 (5 inn.)
Flint tossed a two-hit shutout over five innings with one walk and a career-high eight strikeouts. Potsdam starter Megan Fish allowed four runs, two earned, over three innings and also went 2-for-2 at the plate to account for both hits for the Bears (3-14, 0-10 SUNYAC).
Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) led Cortland with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. She drove in two runs and scored twice. O'Gorman hit a solo homer and finished 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Barbato was 2-for-3 with a double and RBI and
Mikayla Shade (Glenmont) went 2-for-4 with a double and RBI.
The game was scoreless until the top of the third. Cortland scored three times in that frame on a Shade RBI double, an error on a grounder, and a Barbato RBI single. The Red Dragons' four-run fourth inning started with O'Gorman's leadoff homer to right center, and later featured a Schoonmaker two-run single.
Cortland pushed the margin beyond the eight-run level with five runs in the top of the fifth. The first run scored on a pair of wild pitches, and the next two came home on sacrifice flies by
Hannah Thornhill (Heuvelton) and Phillips. Shade followed with an RBI single, and
Hannah Feldman (Buffalo/Sweet Home) closed the scoring with a pinch-hit RBI double.