Cortland scored five runs in the top of the eighth and Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) allowed one run over eight innings as the Red Dragons defeated nationally 20th-ranked Kean University, 6-1, in the opening game of a non-league doubleheader. The host Cougars (12-2) earned a split of the twinbill with a 4-1 win in the nightcap, breaking a scoreless tie with four runs in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Cortland (6-6) is scheduled to open SUNYAC play next Saturday, March 31, with a noon doubleheader at Oswego.
 
Cortland 6, Kean 1 (8 inn.)
 
Van Dorn improved to 4-2 on the season after allowing one run on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk. She permitted only singles over the final six innings. Kean's Jackie Riley dropped to 3-1 with the loss. She gave up only one run on five hits through regulation, but was tagged for five runs on five hits in the eighth.
 
VanDorn started Cortland's winning rally with a single up the middle. Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) bunted pinch runner Haley Muehlbauer (Williamsville/Williamsville South) to second, with Muehlbauer beating the throw to second. Ericka Sadowski's (Liverpool) bunt single loaded the bases, and Kelly O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) drove in the go-ahead run with a sac fly to right.
 
Skyler Hoyt (Endicott/Union-Endicott) and Tori Scharff (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) followed with back-to-back RBI singles to put Cortland up 4-1. Taylor Felicello (Marlboro) bunted the runners to second and third, and pinch hitter Hannah Feldman (Buffalo/Sweet Home) hit a deep two-run single to left to push the lead to 6-1.
 
Kean took a 1-0 lead in the second and threatened for more before Van Dorn escaped a jam. The Cougars loaded the bases with no outs on a Riley double, a Katie Debbie single and a Kaitlin Stahlbrand walk. Following a strikeout, Maria Bonfanti hit a grounder to short that resulted in a force at third and drove in a run. Julie Raba singled to reload the bases, but Van Dorn got a groundout to end the inning.
 
Cortland was retired in order each of the first three innings but struck for a run to tie the game in the fourth. Schoonmaker led off with a single and Sadowski sac bunted her to second. O'Gorman reached on a dropped pop-up in the infield, but was thrown out after getting caught past first base. Schoonmaker, however, took third on the play, and she scored on Hoyt's single to shallow left field.
 
Hoyt finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and Schoonmaker was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Hoyt also recorded 16 putouts at first base as 17 of the 24 outs recorded by Van Dorn were via groundout. Raba went 2-for-4 for Kean.
 
Kean 4, Cortland 1
 
The second game shaped up as another pitching duel as Cortland's Joelle Salisbury (Rotterdam/Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons) and Kean's Stahlbrand each took no-hit bids into the fifth inning.
 
The Cougars broke through with four runs and six hits – their totals for the game – in the bottom of the fifth. Riley's double inside the third base bag opened the inning, and pinch runner Samantha Krakower scored from third two batters later on a Stahlbrand single through the left side. With two outs, Bonfanti singled and Raba hit a two-run double to left center. Raba eventually scored on Cayleen Rizo's single.
 
Cortland broke up Stahlbrand's no-hitter when Schoonmaker hit a one-out double in the sixth. Sadowski singled to center to drive home Schoonmaker. O'Gorman then ripped a line drive that was snared by third baseman Tatiana Yourstone, who threw to first for an inning-ending double play.
 
Stahlbrand finished with a three-hitter. She walked one and fanned two. She was also 1-for-2 with a walk in three plate appearances. Raba was 1-for-3 with a double, a run and two RBI. Schoonmaker, Sadowski and Feldman each went 1-for-3. Salisbury struck out five and walked one over six innings.