OSWEGO, N.Y. - Trailing by a run, the Cortland softball team rallied for six runs in the top of the seventh and defeated host Oswego, 9-4, to complete a sweep of the Lakers in SUNYAC action. Cortland won the opener, 13-1 in five innings. 
 
Lizzy Byers (New Paltz) hit three homers in the doubleheader - two in the first game and a three-run shot as part of the six-run seventh inning in the nightcap - and has hit eight round-trippers over her last eight games. 
 
Cortland 13, Oswego 1 (5 inn.) 
 
Karlee Weeden (Maybrook/Valley Central) earned the win in the opener, allowing one unearned run over the game's five innings. She gave up five hits and two walks and struck out five. 
 
Oswego took a 1-0 lead in the first on an error, sac bunt and Fiona Higgins RBI single, but it was all Cortland from that point on. The Red Dragons tied the game in the second on a Byers solo homer and took the lead with five runs in the third on a Halle Wright (Ballston Spa) RBI single and a Byers grand slam. 
 
The Cortland lead grew to 9-1 in the fourth when Julz Koch (New City/Clarkstown South) hit a three-run shot for her fourth home run in the last seven games. The Red Dragons tallied four runs in the fifth on a McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) three-run double and an Alyssa Finno (Hurley/Kingston) RBI double. 
 
Byers finished 3-for-4 with two homers, five RBI and two runs. Finno went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, Elaina Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) was 2-for-3, Barry and Koch each had three RBI, and Wright went 1-for-2 with two walks, and RBI and three runs scored. Five Oswego players finished 1-for-2 at the plate, and Higgins allowed six runs on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks over three innings as the Lakers' starter. 
 
Cortland 9, Oswego 4 
 
Cortland (13-9, 5-1 SUNYAC) grabbed a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Wright and Barry and a Finno sac fly. Oswego (5-14, 1-5 SUNYAC) responded with a Samantha Morgan solo homer in the second and Zoe Mennig's two-run homer in the third to tie the game at 3-3. 
 
The Lakers took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Tai Smith led off with a walk, moved to second on a bunt and scored on a two-out Mennig triple. Lindsey Richards (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse), who started the inning in relief, escaped further damage with a strikeout to end the frame.


Cortland's seventh-inning rally began when Ornstein reached on an error with one out. Gina Meyers (Liverpool) singled and Wright walked to load the bases, and with two outs Koch drew a walk to force in the tying run. Finno followed with a two-run single to right to give Cortland the lead, and Byers gave the Red Dragons some breathing room with a three-run shot to center for her ninth home run of the season. Richards allowed only a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh to pick up her sixth win of the season in seven decisions. 
 
Meyers and Barry each went 3-for-4 and Finno and Byers each drove in three runs for the Red Dragons. Isabel Milazzo (Elmira/Elmira Notre Dame) started for Cortland and give up five hits with no walks and two strikeouts in four innings. Richards gave up two hits and three walks and fanned six batters over the final three innings. 
 
Mennig went 2-for-3 with a homer, triple and three RBI for Oswego. Starter Maria Lutz gave up six runs, three earned, on eight hits in six and a third innings. She struck out two and walked two.