St. John Fisher 7, Keuka 6
Ithaca, N.Y. -- The third-seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals (32-11) rallied to beat the sixth-seeded Keuka Storm (24-8) 7-6 in Friday's final game at the NCAA regional hosted by Ithaca College. The Cardinals advance to face fourth-seeded Buffalo State at noon Saturday in an elimination game while the Storm are eliminated from the double-elimination tournament, which concludes Sunday.
The Cardinals climbed out of a 5-2 hole with five runs over the fifth and sixth innings then retired the final five Keuka hitters after the Storm had closed to within a run.
St. John Fisher's three-run rally in the sixth took advantage of back-to-back Keuka errors. After first baseman Carissa Carlson's one -out single, catcher Meghan Graves singled in a run and took second on the throw. With runners on second and third, pinch-runner Kristin McCoy scored from third on a throwing error by a Keuka infielder and Graves scored on the next play when the Storm mishandled another ground ball. Right fielder Samantha Vara's run-scoring groundout brought in the final Cardinal run.
Keuka scored once in the bottom of the sixth and put the tying run on base. Left fielder Denise Bilbow led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Sara James (who had three of Keuka's nine hits), but pitcher Amanda Shevchuk put down the next five batters in order.
James' lead-off single in the third jumpstarted a three-run Keuka rally. Right fielder Jessica Van Scoter and second baseman Lindsay Humberstone hit RBI singles and Bilbow drew a bases-loaded walk.
Left fielder Lauren O'Brien drove in three runs for St. John Fisher, including the game's first run on an RBI double in the top of the first. The Storm took a 2-1 lead in their first at-bat on a bases-loaded walk to center fielder Morgan Engelbert and a run-scoring double play before the Cardinals tied it when Carlson homered on the first pitch of the second inning.
O'Brien's two-run single in the fifth pulled the Cardinals to within a run, setting up the go-ahead rally an inning alter.
Carlson and O'Brien each had two of the six St. John Fisher hits. Bilbow and first abseman Sarah Fredericks both had a pair of hits for Keuka.