GENESEO, N.Y. - The Cortland softball team finished second at the SUNYAC tournament after splitting two games during Saturday's action. The Red Dragons stayed alive with a 4-1 win over New Paltz to open the day before being eliminated in the championship round with a 7-0 loss to Geneseo. Cortland needed a win over the Knights in order to force a final game Sunday.
Geneseo (34-4), ranked 21st nationally in Division III, won its second straight league title and earned the conference's NCAA automatic berth. Cortland closes the season with a 26-15 record. The Red Dragons have advanced to the league tournament championship round in every league playoff since 1998.
Three Cortland players -
Alyssa Finno (Hurley/Kingston),
Karlee Weeden (Maybrook/Valley Central) and
Gina Meyers (Liverpool) - were named to the SUNYAC All-Tournament Team. Geneseo had five players selected - Audrey Minton, Taylor Ricardi, Samantha Martz, Lauren Kersch and tournament MVP Kaitlyn Schmitz. Other all-tournament selection were New Paltz's Carol Ann Campsey and Jillian Harrison and Plattsburgh's Alexa Murray.
Cortland 4, New Paltz 1
Weeden threw a complete-game four-hitter for the win to propel Cortland into the championship round. She gave up one run, struck out three and walked two. New Paltz starter Lindsay Roman allowed four runs, three earned, in one-plus inning and took the loss.
Cortland jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Elaina Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) singled and Meyers reached on an error to put runners on first and third. A passed ball scored Ornstein and moved Meyers to second,
Halle Wright's (Ballston Spa) single advanced Meyers to third, and two batters later
Julz Koch (New City/Clarkstown South) hit a two-run double.
The Red Dragons added a run in the second when
Tori Reich (Cornwall) singled, was bunted to second by
Hannah Fairbrother (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton), moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Meyers single. New Paltz (27-17) scored its run in the fifth on a Jackie Rometo RBI double. The Hawks had runners on second and third with one out after that double, but the next batter hit a fly ball to Fairbrother in left, who threw out the runner trying to tag from third to end the inning.
Ornstein finished 2-for-4 for the Red Dragons, who out-hit the Hawks, 8-4.
Geneseo 7, Cortland 0
Schmitz pitched Geneseo to the title by throwing a four-hit shutout with three strikeouts and one walk. She also was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored at the plate. Minton finished 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs and Leah VanDerwarker was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.
The hosts struck for three runs in the bottom of the first. VanDerwarker reached on an error and Rebecca Schwartz hit a two-run homer. Later in the inning, with two outs, Minton singled and scored on a Olivia Fazio triple. The Knights scored three more runs in the fourth on a Minton RBI single, an Alexandra Koutsogiannis sac fly and a Katherine Hayes RBI single.
The Knights went up 7-0 in the fourth on a Minton sac fly. Geneseo almost ended the game on the eight-run rule in the fifth as it loaded the bases with one out before lining into a double play.
Cortland managed to get only two runners into scoring position versus Schmitz.
McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) led off the second with a single and was forced out after a Koch fielder's choice. Koch went to second on a wild pitch but got no further. In the sixth, Fairbrother led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout but was erased on a lineout double play.
Weeden, coming off the win earlier in the day, started for the Red Dragons and allowed six runs, five earned, in two-plus innings.
Lindsey Richards (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) gave up one run on three hits in two innings and
Mikayla Pourby (Binghamton) allowed no runs on one hit with a strikeout and three walks in two innings.
