CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Cortland softball team split two games during the second day of the SUNYAC tournament, defeating Oneonta, 9-2, to open the day and losing to nationally 20th-ranked Geneseo, 4-2, in the final contest of the afternoon.

Cortland (26-14), the tournament's top seed and host, will face fifth-seeded Oswego in an elimination game Saturday at 11 a.m. That winner will play Geneseo (33-8) at 1:30 p.m. in the championship round and will need to defeat the Knights twice – once Saturday and once Sunday – to win the tournament. Geneseo needs just one win to repeat as league champion. The Knights scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to beat New Paltz, 4-3, in Friday's second game, and Oswego (19-20) beat New Paltz, 6-3, in the third game of the day to eliminate the Hawks.

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Cortland 9, Oneonta 2

Cortland scored nine runs over the first three innings in support of Cady Walts (Cortland), who finished with a three-hitter for her 13th win of the season. Walts struck out six batters and walked one. All three hits she allowed came during Oneonta's two-run fourth inning, and she retired the final 11 batters she faced.


Sabrina Caputo (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, Hannah Thornhill (Heuvelton) was 2-for-2 with two RBI after entering the game as a pinch hitter, and Taylor Felicello (Marlboro) went 1-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and two runs. Kelly O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) ended 1-for-3 with a double, walk and three runs scored and Alyssa Finno (Kingston) was 1-for-3 with two RBI as Cortland outhit the visiting Red Dragons, 10-3.

Finno drove in a run with a sac fly and Caputo added a two-out, two-run single in Cortland's three-run first. The Red Dragons extended the lead with five runs in the second with a rally that started with two outs and nobody on. O'Gorman doubled and scored on a Felicello single, and Thornhill's RBI single made it 5-0. Later in the inning Finno singled in a run, with a second run scoring on an error, and Caputo added an RBI single. Cortland's final run came in the third on a double error, a flyout that moved a runner to third, and a Thornhill RBI infield single.

Oneonta opened the top of the fourth with singles by Dana Del Genio and Jade Meehan and a Lauren Sabatino RBI double. Meehan scored two batters later on a Madison Capozuccz sac fly, although another runner during the play was called out for leaving too early when tagging from second. Oneonta starter Julia Calabro gave up six runs in an inning and two thirds and Alyssa Bluethgen allowed three unearned runs over the final four and a third innings.

Geneseo 4, Cortland 2

In a rematch of last year's SUNYAC championship game, Cortland struck first in the bottom of the second when Caputo singled with one out, stole second with two outs and scored on a Cailey Cuttita (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) double to right center. The Red Dragons missed a good scoring chance in the first as Felicello tripled with one out but was stranded after a foul out and a pop-up.

Geneseo took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the fourth. The inning started with singles by pitcher Ashlyn Kersch and Danni Napoli, followed by a Hannah Elmer RBI double. One out later Taylor Fedor hit a grounder to short and Napoli slid in safely under the throw home. Taylor Moore grounded into a fielder's choice force out to drive in Elmer.

The Knights added a key insurance run in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Alyssa Persich and Kersch each singled and Napoli lined a shot down the third base line that turned into a ground-rule double to score Persich. Cortland got a run back in the bottom of the seventh when Finno led off with a double and scored on Cuttita's two-out double, but a strikeout ended the game with the potential tying run at the plate.

Geneseo finished with 10 hits, all from the top five batters in its lineup. Napoli was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, Abbey Whitney went 2-for-3, Persich and Kersch each were 2-for-4, and Elmer was 1-for-4 with a double and RBI. Finno and Cuttita each were 2-for-3 at the plate for Cortland, with Cuttita driving home both of the Red Dragons' runs.

Kersch improved to 14-2 after allowing six hits and one walk with three strikeouts over seven innings. Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) went the distance for Cortland and gave up 10 hits with no walks and one strikeout.