CLAREMONT, CALIF. – Hannah Feldman (Buffalo/Sweet Home) went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBI and Cady Walts (Cortland) scattered six hits in a complete-game victory as Cortland defeated nationally 11th-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 10-3, in the second game of a non-league doubleheader.
 
The Red Dragons nearly pulled off a sweep of the twinbill, but the host Athenas rallied with runs in the sixth and seventh innings to win the opener, 5-4.
 
Cortland (6-5) finished with a 6-2 record on its California trip. The Red Dragons are scheduled to start SUNYAC play on Friday, March 29 with a doubleheader at Potsdam. CMS is now 16-5 on the season after the split.
 
CMS 5, Cortland 4
 
Cortland was trailing 3-1 before taking its first lead of the game on Skyler Hoyt's (Endicott/Union-Endicott) three-run homer to left center in the top of the sixth. The blast was preceded by singles from Sabrina Caputo (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) and Feldman.
 
The Athenas, however, tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Chloe Amarilla reached on a strange-hop infield single and scored on Molly Spaniac's double to right. Spaniac was thrown out at third on the play to end the inning.
 
Cortland got a runner to second but couldn't score in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, CMS loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Megan Perron and Maddie Valdez and an error on a grounder by Lauren Richards. Cortland hurler Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) looked like she might escape the jam when the next batter hit a line drive to her that she caught and turned into a double play with a throw to first. Rachel Perley, however, lined a single to left to drive home the winning run.
 
Amarilla started the hosts' first-inning two-run inning with a double. She eventually scored on a bases-loaded grounder by Richards, with Amarilla beating the throw home, and Kawai Scanlan grounded out to drive in a run.
 
Cortland picked up a run in the second on a Tori Scharff (Poughkeepsie/Arlington) sac fly, but Amarilla doubled again in the second, this time with two outs, and scored on an error.
 
Hoyt went 2-for-3 with the three-run homer and Feldman was 1-for-1 with two walks for Cortland. Amarilla closed the game 3-for-3 with a walk, two doubles and three runs scored and Perron went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs for the Athenas.
 
Van Dorn allowed five runs, three earned, in six and two thirds innings with three strikeouts and four walks. She gave up nine hits. Lexi Singh earned the win in relief after pitching a scoreless seventh. Amarilla was the CMS starter and gave up six hits and four runs in six innings with two walks and a strikeout.
 
Cortland 10, CMS 3
 
Cortland jumped out early with seven runs in the second and two in the third to take a 9-1 lead. CMS scored twice in the bottom of the third, but neither team scored again until Cortland picked up a run in the sixth.
 
The Red Dragons sent 11 batters to the plate in the second. Feldman started the inning with a single, followed by a Hoyt double, an Alyssa Finno (Kingston) walk and a grounder by Scharff that drove in a run. Scharff was safe as well on the play due to an error. Victoria Brown (Queens/Archbishop Molloy) hit a sac fly to center to drive home a run and Ashley Votta (Marlboro) hit an RBI single to center.
 
Three batters later Caputo singled to short with the bases loaded to drive in the fourth run of the inning. Feldman then cleared the bases with a three-run triple down the right field line to give Cortland a 7-0 lead.
 
Valdez hit a solo homer for CMS in the bottom of the second. Each team scored twice in the third – Cortland on a throwing error after a Brown bunt single and a Taylor Felicello (Marlboro) sac fly, and CMS on a Spaniac RBI double and Perron RBI infield single.
 
Walts got stronger as the game progressed and allowed only hit, three walks and no runs over the final four innings. For the game she allowed six hits and three walks and struck out one to improve to 4-0 on the season. Richards started for CMS and gave up seven runs, three earned, in an inning and two thirds. Singh went the final five and a third innings and allowed three runs, two earned.
 
Feldman finished 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBI and Hoyt was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Hoyt drove in Cortland's final run with a two-out RBI single in the sixth. Finno reached base three times in four plate appearances with a single and two walks and she scored twice.