CLERMONT, FLA. – The Cortland softball team completed its season-opening Florida trip with a 9-1 record after defeating Springfield, 8-2, and Bowdoin, 7-6, on Friday at the Legends Way Ballfields. The Red Dragons scored eight runs between the fourth and sixth innings to erase an early 2-0 deficit versus the Pride, and Cortland took a 6-0 lead after two innings and held off a late rally by the Polar Bears in the second game.
Cortland 8, Springfield 2
Springfield led 2-0 after three innings on an Emily Whalen RBI bunt single in the second and a Carissa Pecchia RBI single in the third. Cortland got a run back in the top of the fourth on a
Gina Meyers (Liverpool) infield single, a
McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) walk and, after a double play, an error on a ball hit to short by
Halle Wright (Ballston Spa).
In the fifth,
Julz Koch (New City/Clarkstown South) opened the inning with a walk and
Katie Stork (Massapequa) singled. With one out and Stork on second and
Lainie Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) on first following an infield single,
Tori Reich (Cornwall) singled to load the bases. Meyers then hit a grounder to short and the throw home was mishandled by the catcher, allowing both Stork and Ornstein to score to give Cortland a 3-2 lead. Later in the inning, Wright singled down the right field line to drive in two runs.
Barry started for Cortland and allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits over four innings. She struck out two and walked none and earned the win.
Kaeli Murtagh (Montgomery/Pine Bush) entered to start the top of the fifth and finished the game with three hitless and scoreless innings for the save. She walked three and fanned one. Cortland added three runs in the sixth when Reich singled home two runs with the bases loaded and an error on the throw to the infield allowed another run to score.
Reich finished 2-for-4 with two RBI, Stork was 2-for-4 with two runs and Wright finished with two RBI for Cortland. Pecchia and Whalen each were 2-for-3 with an RBI for Springfield (7-2). Amelia DeRosa took the loss after allowing five unearned runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in five innings. Springfield committed six errors.
Cortland 7, Bowdoin 6
Cortland jumped out quickly versus Bowdoin with four runs in the bottom of the first on a Barry three-run homer to center and a Koch RBI single. The Red Dragons added two in the second on Barry's bases-loaded walk and a Wright sac fly. Bowdoin picked up a run in the third on JK Bradley's RBI single and another in the fourth on an Anika Ewert bases-loaded walk, but Barry hit her second homer of the game, a solo blast to left in the fourth, to put Cortland up 7-2.
Bowdoin fought back to within a run with a four-run sixth inning that included a run scoring on error during a potential inning-ending play, followed by a Sydney Lang RBI single and a Shea Sullivan two-run double. Murtagh entered with the potential tying run on second and struck out the next batter to end the sixth. In the top of the seventh, the Polar Bears had the first two batters reach by an error and a Penelope Fong-Picariello bunt single. After a flyout, Cortland threw out a runner trying to go to third on a potential wild pitch for the second out, and Murtagh got the next hitter to ground out to second to end the game for her second save of the day and third of the season.
Kim Westenberg (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) started and allowed two hits and one unearned run with a strikeout and two walks. She left after three innings and was not eligible for the victory. Barry picked up her second win of the day and is 5-0 on the season after allowing no earned runs (five total) on three hits with a strikeout and four walks in two and two thirds innings. Murtagh gave up one hit and no runs with a strikeout over the last inning and a third. All of Bowdoin's runs were unearned as Cortland made six errors.
Barry finished 2-for-3 at the plate with two homers, a walk, five RBI and two runs and Meyers was 3-for-4 with two runs. Koch went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Wright was 1-for-1 with a double, two walks and an RBI.
For Bowdoin (4-1), Bradley was 2-for-3 with a walk and RBI and Sullivan drove in two runs. Anna Halliday started and gave up four runs on three hits in one inning. She walked three batters. Kathleen Hester went the next five innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
