CORTLAND, N.Y. –
Karlee Weeden (Maybrook/Valley Central) tossed a five-hit shutout in the opener and
Isabel Milazzo (Elmira/Elmira Notre Dame) and
Lindsey Richards (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) combined for a six-hit shutout in the second game as Cortland swept visiting Brockport, 5-0 and 3-0, to wrap up the SUNYAC softball regular season.
With the sweep and Oneonta's split Saturday at New Paltz, Cortland (23-13, 14-4 SUNYAC) clinched the second seed in the upcoming six-team SUNYAC postseason tournament. The Red Dragons will play the fifth seed, Fredonia, in the opening round on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Geneseo. Geneseo is the host of the double-elimination tournament as the SUNYAC regular-season champion.
Cortland 5, Brockport 0
Weeden allowed five hits and a walk and struck out seven batters for her 11th win of the season. Brockport starter Hali Jenner gave up five runs, four earned, in two and two thirds innings. Catherine Johnson pitched the final three and a third innings for the Golden Eagles and allowed no runs on one hit with six strikeout and no walks.
Cortland took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
Julz Koch (New City/Clarkstown South) reached on a one-out infield single,
Alyssa Finno (Hurley/Kingston) singled up the middle, and an error loaded the bases.
Tori Reich (Cornwall) followed with a two-run single to right center and
Hannah Fairbrother (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) drove in a run with a grounder to short that resulted in an error, but on which a run would have scored anyway.
The Red Dragons' other two runs came in the bottom of the third.
McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Finno's two-out RBI single up the middle.
Lizzy Byers (New Paltz) then doubled to right center to drive home Finno.
Brockport's best scoring chance came in the top of the sixth. Kellie Gentile doubled with two outs, and a pair of hit batters loaded the bases, but Weeden struck out the next hitter to keep the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard.
Cortland 3, Brockport 0
Cortland broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth when
Halle Wright (Ballston Spa) led off with a single and Barry blasted her fifth home run of the season off the scoreboard in left field.
The Red Dragons pushed their lead to 3-0 in the sixth. Barry drew a leadoff walk, moved to second two batters later on a groundout and scored on a Byers RBI double to right center.
Milazzo earned her fifth win of the year after giving up five hits and no walks with one strikeout. Richards earned her first save after giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts over the final three innings. Brockport (13-19, 6-12 SUNYAC) only managed to get runners in scoring positions twice. The Golden Eagles had runner on first and second with one out in the third before a fielder's choice and a groundout ended the inning, and they also had first and second in the sixth after a one-out hit-by-pitch and two-out walk, but a soft liner ended that threat.
Barry finished 1-for-2 with a homer, walk, two RBI and two runs and
Elaina Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) was 2-for-3 to lead the Red Dragons' offense.
Brockport starter Julia Palopoli allowed two runs on eight hits over four and a third innings. Cameryn Duggan finished 3-for-4 to account for half of the Golden Eagles' hits.