CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland softball team split a doubleheader versus visiting Geneseo, winning the opener, 9-6, before losing the second game, 5-4, on a run in the top of the seventh.
 
The doubleheader featured a combined 49 hits by the two teams. Cortland outhit the Knights in the opener, 14-11, and in the nightcap, 13-11.
 
The Red Dragons are now 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the SUNYAC. Geneseo, the league champ each year since 2021, is now 9-15 overall and 6-2 in the league. Cortland's home doubleheader Wednesday versus Clarkson has been canceled - the Red Dragons return to action at Fredonia Friday at 3 p.m.
 
Cortland 9, Geneseo 6
 
Cortland took a 4-1 lead after two innings and held off a couple of Geneseo comeback bids. The Knights were within 4-3 in the top of the third, but Cortland scored once in the third and twice in the fourth to go up 7-3. Geneseo plated three runs in the fifth to close within a run, but Cortland scored twice in the bottom of the frame and neither team scored the rest of the way.
 
Tori Reich (Cornwall) and Shannon Scotto (Putnam Valley/Lakeland) each finished 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI and Brooke Scheibe (Sayville) was 2-for-4 with an RBI for Cortland. Kayla Pendergast (West Hempstead) was 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.
 
For Geneseo, Kaitlyn Schmitz was 4-for-4, while Ray Schumacher and Audrey Minton each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
 
Minton staked Geneseo to an early lead with a solo homer in the second. Cortland's four runs in the second all scored with two outs on a Pendergast two-run double, an Lainie Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown) RBI infield single as she beat out a grounder to the pitcher, and a Reich RBI double. Bella Nadzan singled in two runs for Geneseo in the top of the third. Cortland scored in the third on Scheibe's RBI infield single and two in the fourth on Scotto's two-run double.
 
A Schumacher RBI single and a Haley Coombs RBI double highlighted Geneseo's three-run fifth. The Red Dragons scored their two runs in the fifth on RBI singles from Reich and Gina Meyers (Liverpool).
 
McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) improved to 10-1 with the win. She gave up six runs, five earned, on 11 hits with a strikeout and two walks in the complete-game effort. Sydney Bolton, Geneseo's starter, allowed six runs over three innings and took the loss.

Geneseo 5, Cortland 4
 
Geneseo broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh and held on for the win to earn the doubleheader split. Lauren Gulick, who homered earlier in the game, led off the seventh with a single and pinch runner Hannah Olejniczak moved to second on a Gabriella Smith sac bunt and to third on Rebecca Schwartz's groundout to second. Schmitz, who finished a combined 7-for-8 in the doubleheader, hit a grounder up the middle. Cortland second baseman Reich backhanded the ball but was unable to throw out Schmitz, and the infield single gave Geneseo the lead. Cortland got the leadoff runner on in the bottom of the seventh on a Scotto single, but Schmitz, who entered to pitch during the sixth inning, retired the next three batters for the win.
 
Down 4-2, Cortland rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Kim Westenberg (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) and Halle Wright (Ballston Spa) led off with back-to-back doubles, the latter driving in a run to cut the Geneseo lead to 4-3. Wright tagged and went to third on a flyout to right, and Kaeli McAnally (Islip) singled to right to tie the game. An Ornstein single and a groundout put runners on second and third before Schmitz got another groundout to end the inning and keep the game tied.
 
Cortland took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Scotto RBI single and Geneseo tied it in the second on Nadzan's RBI single. A Schmitz RBI single and a Schumacher sac fly put the Knights on top, 3-1, in the third. Cortland scored on Barry's RBI double in the third and Geneseo scored in the fifth on Gulick's homer.
 
McAnally finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and four Red Dragons - Reich, Scotto, Westenberg and Wright - each went 2-for-4. Schmitz went 3-for-4, Gulick was 2-for-3 and Schwartz went 2-for-4 for Geneseo. Westenberg went the distance in the circle for Cortland, allowing five runs on 11 hits with a strikeout and no walks. Gabriella Petroski went five-plus innings for Geneseo and allowed four runs, three earned, on 10 hits before giving way to Schmitz.