SUNY Cortland Athletics

BETHLEHEM, PA. - Westfield State hit two solo home runs in its first three at-bats and the top-seeded and nationally 21st-ranked Owls held on to defeat fourth-seeded Cortland, 2-1, in the opening game of a double-elimination NCAA Division III Softball Regional hosted by Moravian University.
 
Cortland (25-16) will play third-seeded Bowdoin in an elimination game Friday at 1 p.m., and if victorious would play another elimination game to follow on Friday. Westfield State (39-1) will play second-seeded Moravian in a winner's bracket game Friday at 11 a.m.
 
Cortland outhit Westfield, 7-5. Gianna Endieveri (Glens Falls) started for Cortland and allowed five hits and four walks and struck out seven batters in six innings. Joss Mettey was the Owls' starter and went four innings for the win. She gave up one run on five hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Angelina Vartuli picked up the save after blanking the Red Dragons over the final three innings. She allowed two hits and a walk and fanned two batters.
 
The Owls grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a leadoff homer by Rylie Camacho and a one-out homer by Hannah Wodecki. Cortland had two runners on with one out in the second before hitting into a double play, and the Red Dragons put runners on first and second with two outs in the third on singles by Laila Smith (Guilderland) and Katie Stork (Massapequa) before Mettey got the next batter to ground out back to her.
 
Cortland got on the board in the top of the fourth when Maggie Cummings (Holland Patent) hit a two-out solo homer to left. Shannon Scotto (Putnam Valley/Lakeland) followed that homer with a single for her 150th career base hit.
 
Endieveri pitched out of trouble in the bottom of the inning when the Owls loaded the bases on two walks and an error before flying out to end the threat. Cortland had the potential tying run in scoring position in each of the last two innings. In the sixth, Kayla Santo (Franklin Square/Valley Stream North) led off with a walk and was bunted to second by Kaeli McAnally (Islip), but the next two hitters were retired on a strikeout and groundout. In the seventh, Smith doubled to left center with two outs by Vartuli induced a pop-up to third to end the game.
 
Smith finished the game 3-for-4, Cummings was 1-for-2 with a homer and walk, and Santo finished 1-for-2 with a walk for Cortland. In addition to the Camacho and Wodecki homers, Lyla Dwyer finished 2-for-2 and Kassidy LaTour went 1-for-3 for Westfield. Camacho and Allyssa Slack each walked twice.