NEW PALTZ, N.Y. - The Cortland softball team began SUNYAC play with two losses at New Paltz, last season's league regular-season champion. The Red Dragons fell in the first game, 3-0, and in a wild second game, 16-10.
 
Cortland (10-4, 0-2 SUNYAC) will play a league doubleheader at Oneonta Monday at 11 a.m.
 
New Paltz 3, Cortland 0
 
The opener, which took only an hour and 10 minutes to complete, featured solid pitching from both New Paltz's Lindsay Roman and Cortland's McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa). Roman tossed a four-hit shutout with three strikeouts and no walks. Barry gave up seven hits and no walks with one strikeout in six innings. She allowed three runs.
 
The Hawks put up a run in the fourth when Jillian Shelbourne hit a one-out double and eventually scored on a Rhionna Bianchini RBI single. Shelbourne singled in two runs in the fifth to push the lead to 3-0.
 
Cortland had two runners reach scoring position - Halle Wright (Ballston Spa) singled with two outs and stole second in the second before a strikeout ended the inning, and Kayla Santo (Franklin Square/Valley Stream North) led off the third with a single and went to second on a two-out Gina Meyers (Liverpool) single before Roman got the next batter to fly out. Cortland's only other runner after that came in the seventh on a two-out single by Wright, who finished the game 2-for-3.
 
New Paltz 16, Cortland 10
 
Cortland twice battled back from large deficits to make things interesting before New Paltz finally put the game away late. The Hawks scored seven times in the bottom of the first to go up 7-1, but Cortland answered with four runs in the top of the second. New Paltz recorded two runs in the second and four in the third to take a 13-5 lead, and Cortland was three outs away from losing by the eight-run rule before producing five runs in the top of fifth to close within three at 13-10. New Paltz closed the scoring with three runs in the sixth.
 
The hosts finished with 19 hits. Jaycee Filancia went 5-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, two RBI and four runs scored and Jackie Rometo was 4-for-4 with a walk and four RBI. Isabella Shepherd was 2-for-2 with a walk and three RBI and Kelsey O'Brien finished 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI. Bianchini ended 1-for-2 with walk, two RBI and two runs.
 
Cortland ended with 13 hits, including one each by each of the nine starters. Wright was 3-for-3 with a double, walk, two RBI and two runs and finished 5-for-6 in the doubleheader. Barry went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, Meyers ended 2-for-4 with an RBI and Tori Reich (Cornwall) drove in two runs.
 
Roman, New Paltz's second reliever, was awarded the victory after allowing one run over the final two and two thirds innings. Cortland starter Kaeli Murtagh (Montgomery/Pine Bush) took the loss after allowing New Paltz's seven runs in the first.