SUNY Cortland Athletics

OSWEGO, N.Y. - The Cortland softball team locked up the second seed for next week's SUNYAC tournament after splitting a doubleheader at Oswego in the Red Dragons' final regular-season games.
 
Cortland (22-15, 13-5 SUNYAC) lost the opening game to the Lakers, 7-6, as the hosts rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Red Dragons, however, won the second game, 12-7. Cortland needed just one win in the doubleheader to earn the second seed in the six-team conference tournament at top-seeded New Paltz. Third-seeded Buffalo State and sixth-seeded Oswego (18-8, 11-7 SUNYAC) will play Thursday at 10 a.m. and fourth-seeded Fredonia and fifth-seeded Oneonta will play Thursday at noon in single-elimination games. A four-team, double-elimination team begins after those two games, with Cortland meeting the Buffalo State/Oswego winner Thursday at 3 p.m. to begin that portion of the tournament.
 
Oswego 7, Cortland 6
 
Cortland trailed 3-0 after two innings but scored once in the third, twice in the fourth and three times in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. Oswego, however, plated four runs in the sixth, with the big blow an Emma Budzinski three-run homer to put the Lakers up 7-6.
 
Budzinski finished 2-for-4 with a homer, triple and four RBI. She opened the scoring with an RBI triple in the first, followed by Kayla Doerre's RBI double. Kira Wright went 3-for-4, including an RBI single in the second, and Delaney Wiley went 2-for-4 and singled in Oswego's first run of the sixth inning.
 
Alyssa Budzinski earned the win despite allowing 12 hits and six runs over seven innings. She struck out four and walked four.
 
For Cortland, Kayla Pendergast (West Hempstead) was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs, Katie Stork (Massapequa) finished 2-for-4 with a walk and RBI, Maggie Cummings (Holland Patent) finished 2-for-4, and Laila Smith (Guilderland) went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.
 
Cortland scored in the third on a Kaeli McAnally (Islip) RBI single and added two in the fourth on Smith's two-run double. Pendergast hit a two-run double in the fifth and Stork had an RBI infield single to give the Red Dragons a 6-3 lead.
 
Olivia DiSalvo (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) started for Cortland and allowed three runs in an inning and a third. Molly Farley (Goshen/Chester Academy) entered in the second with the bases loaded and one out and got out of the jam, and she blanked Oswego over the next three innings before allowing the four runs in the sixth.
 
Cortland 12, Oswego 7
 
Oswego's opening win set up a battle for the SUNYAC second seed in the nightcap. Cortland jumped out to a 7-1 lead after three innings, but the Lakers scored four in the fourth to close the margin to two runs. Cortland pulled away with four runs in the sixth and one in the seventh, and Oswego finished the scoring with two in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Cummings finished the game 4-for-4 with three doubles, a hit by pitch, three RBI and four runs scored. Sam Pusloskie (Clarence) was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, Shelby LaMont (Amsterdam) went 2-for-5 with two RBI, and McAnally finished 2-for-5. Morgan Ellerbrock (Colonie) walked three times and scored three runs.
 
Gianna Endieveri (Glens Falls) started for Cortland and allowed five runs, two earned, on eight hits in three and two thirds innings. She struck out five and walked one. Kaitlyn Macumber (Deposit) picked up the win after tossing the final three and a third innings. She gave up two runs on five hits with a strikeout and no walks.
 
For Oswego, Grace DiPalma went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI and Tahlia Gerardi was 2-for-3 with a double. Gabriela Milazzo started and gave up four runs in two innings.
 
Oswego struck first on a Wiley RBI single in the first, but Cortland came back with a four-spot in the second, led by a Cummings RBI double, a Pusloskie RBI single and a LaMont two-run single. The Red Dragons scored three in the third on another Cummings run-scoring double along with a Pusloskie RBI double and a Smith RBI infield single.
 
Emma Budzinski's two-run homer was part of Oswego's four-run fourth that made it 7-5. In the top of the sixth, Cummings drove in a run with an infield single. Then with runners on first and third, Cummings stole second, and a throwing error on the play allowed a run to score. Cortland's other two runs later in the inning also scored due to errors. Pendergast's RBI double in the seventh pushed the lead to 12-5, and Oswego's final two runs came in the seventh on a Gianna DeGonza RBI groundout and a Lillian Haggerty run-scoring infield single.