Cortland, N.Y. – The #19 softball team (9-5) swept a doubleheader at #26 Cortland Thursday, winning game one 6-5 in 11 innings and posting a 3-1 victory in the nightcap.
In the opener, junior outfielder
Chelsey Feldman (Hewlett/Lynbrook) singled in the winning run in the 11th in a game that was tied 1-1 heading into the final inning.
Feldman’s single scored senior second baseman
Jessica Stangarone (Brewster/Brewster), who was placed on second base to start the inning (tiebreaker rules were used beginning in the eighth inning) and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by first baseman
Caitlin Ryan (Allentown/Clarksburg, N.J.).
Stangarone preserved the lead in the bottom of the inning, throwing out a Red Dragon runner at home on a bases-loaded groundout.
Both teams scored three runs in the seventh and a run in the eighth.
Stangarone’s double sparked Ithaca’s three-run rally in the seventh. Freshman Alyssa Seranis
(Webster-Thomas/Webster) drove in a run with a pinch-hit single and two runs scored on an infield error by Cortland’s shortstop. After the Red Dragons tied the game in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings Ithaca took a 4-3 lead on an RBI double by
Stangarone but Cortland rallied again in the bottom of the eighth.
Stangarone,
Ryan and senior shortstop
Erica Cutspec (Fort Plain/Fort Plain) each had two hits. Senior
Carly Myers (Claremont Secondary/Victoria, British Columbia) earned the win with a hitless 11th; she allowed two baserunners, both on intentional walks to load the bases and set up a force play.
In the nightcap, senior catcher
Stacy Pelesz (Hudson/Livingston) broke a 1-1 tie with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly and freshman outfielder Cait Dolan
(Victor//Farmington) added an RBI single in the seventh.
Myers picked up her second win of the day, allowing six hits in the complete-game effort.
Dolan tied the game in the third with an RBI double that scored
Ryan.
The Bombers host Rensselaer Saturday in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.