SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Cortland softball team persevered through rain delays and a location change and the Red Dragons swept Plattsburgh, 8-0 and 6-1, in a SUNYAC doubleheader to wrap up the regular-season schedule.
 
The doubleheader was originally scheduled to be played at Cortland at noon, but rain pushed the projected start time to 1 p.m. and then 1:30 p.m. Around 1 p.m. it was decided to move the doubleheader to a turf field at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, about 33 miles from the Cortland campus, for a 4 p.m. start.
 
The host school, however, had its own doubleheader run longer than anticipated, and the first Cortland-Plattsburgh game did not begin until almost 6 p.m. The second game ended just after 9 p.m., and following that game Cortland honored its five senior players - Lainie Ornstein (Yorktown Heights/Yorktown), McKenna Barry (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa), Halle Wright (Ballston Spa), Julz Koch (New City/Clarkstown South) and Brooke Scheibe (Sayville) - along with senior manager Shaylagh Randall.
 
Cortland (20-14, 16-2 SUNYAC) reached the 20-win mark for the 28th straight full season (2020 was canceled after four games). The Red Dragons can finish as the SUNYAC regular-season champion if New Paltz (14-2 SUNYAC) loses at least one game of its doubleheader versus Buffalo State (Monday at OCC). If that occurs, Cortland will host the six-team SUNYAC tournament starting next Thursday. If New Paltz sweeps Buffalo State, Cortland and New Paltz will tie for the regular-season title but New Paltz will earn the top seed based on a tiebreaker.
 
Cortland 8, Plattsburgh 0 (6 inn.)
 
Barry tossed her third consecutive shutout, allowing two hits and two walks over six innings, to improve to 9-5 on the season. The game was called after the sixth due to the eight-run rule. Carly Gemmett took the loss for Plattsburgh after allowing eight runs, seven earned, in five and two thirds innings.
 
Laila Smith (Guilderland) finished 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBI and Ornstein went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two runs scored. Scheibe tripled and drove in a run, Wright walked twice and scored two runs, and Barry finished 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. Megan Pillus and Emma Deo each finished 1-for-2 for Plattsburgh.
 
Cortland scored in the first without a hit on walks by Wright, Smith and Maggie Cummings (Holland Patent) and a Shannon Scotto (Putnam Valley/Lakeland) sacrifice fly. In the second, Smith came up with two runners on and hit a triple to the right center gap to drive in two runs, and on the play an error on the throw from the outfield allowed Smith to score.
 
Smith scored on another strange play in the fifth. Her fly ball to left center was dropped for an error, and the ball rolled toward the fence in the park that featured fence distances of 225 feet. Smith raced all the way around the bases to make it 5-0. Cortland forced the eight-run rule with three in the sixth. Kaeli McAnally (Islip) singled and eventually scored from second on a Scheibe triple to right center. Ornstein followed with an RBI double to left, and she scored two batters later on Smith's walk-off RBI single to left.
 
Cortland 6, Plattsburgh 1
 
Gianna Endieveri (Glens Falls) went the distance for the win in the nightcap, allowing just one unearned run on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. She is 9-4 this spring. Shelby LaMont (Amsterdam) finished 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, Cummings went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored and McAnally finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Bella Toleman went 2-for-3 to lead Plattsburgh (10-25, 7-11 SUNYAC). Cadey Wheat started for the Cardinals and gave up five runs, three earned, in two and a third innings. Morgan Ormerod allowed one run over the final three and two thirds innings.
 
Plattsburgh took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Sara Isaacs reached on a two-out error and Megan Pillus singled to short. A throwing error trying to force Isaacs at second allowed her to come around to score. An infield single put runners on first and third, but Endieveri escaped further damage with a groundout back to herself. Endieveri only allowed one runner to reach second base the rest of the game.
 
Cortland tied the game in the bottom of the first when Wright was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a Smith walk and scored on Barry's single through the right side. The Red Dragons took the lead with two in the second on a wild pitch and a Wright RBI groundout and added two in the third on a Scotto RBI single and LaMont run-scoring double. Cortland's final run came in the fifth when Cummings led off with a double and scored on a LaMont one-out single.