Cortland gets good start

May 09, 2008 04:00 am

— PLATTSBURGH -- Cortland was the only team that had to play two games on the opening day of the NCAA Division III Softball Championships Plattsburgh Regional, and the Red Dragons picked up two wins to earn a day off today.
Cortland trounced Eastern Connecticut, 14-5, at the Cardinals Softball Complex Thursday morning before knocking off the fifth-ranked team in Division III, Montclair State, 2-0. The fourth-seeded Red Dragons won't play again until Saturday morning.
No. 3 seed St. John Fisher defeated No. 6 seed Springfield, 5-3, and No. 2 Endicott cruised past No. 7 Keuka, 7-1.
Cortland handed top-seeded Montclair State just its fifth loss of the season. Shara Evanter doubled in the winning run in the sixth, and Donnalyn Cross scored on a wild pitch in the seventh.
Katie Finch picked up the complete-game win after earning the save in the morning. Maria Carucci got the win against Eastern Connecticut even though she faced just one batter.
Cross had five hits on the day, including a home run, and drove in three runs. Evanter and Amanda Barnett both totaled four hits Thursday, with Barnett going 3-for-3 with four RBI in the early game.
Kelly Hausler had a home run, a double and three RBI to lead St. John Fisher to its win. Amanda Shevchuk scattered 10 hits to get the pitching win.
Paula McGinn had a triple and two singles for Endicott, and Jen Elwell struck out four and allowed seven hits.
Eastern Connecticut takes on Keuka in an elimination game this morning. Then Springfield plays Montclair State, and St. John Fisher faces Endicott.
Cortland 14, Eastern Connecticut 5
E. Connecticut014 000 -- 5 11 2
Cortland132 503 -- 14 17 0
Pensiero, Cravens (5), and Denny. Finch, Carucci (3), Finch (4) and Barnett. WP- Carucci. LP- Pensiero. S- Finch. 2B- Barnett (C), Nelson (C), Ringen (C). 3B- Sullivan (EC). HR- Cross (C).
St. John Fisher 5, Springfield 3
Springfield101 001 0 -- 3 10 2
St. John Fisher300 200 X -- 5 5 0
Rhodes and Wlosek. Shevchuk and Harmon. WP- Shevchuk. LP- Rhodes. 2B- Spiro (EC), Hausler (SJF). HR- Hausler (SJF).
Endicott 7, Keuka 1
Keuka100 000 0 -- 1 7 4
Endicott120 004 X -- 7 12 0
Shaughnessy and Stacy. Elwell and Sargent. WP- Elwell. LP- Shaughnessy. 2B- Engelbert (K), Sargent (E). 3B- McGinn (E).
Cortland 2, Montclair State 0
Cortland000 001 1 -- 2 7 0
Montclair State000 000 0 -- 0 4 3
Finch and Barnett. McCrea, Persico (7) and Nourouter. WP- Finch. LP- McCrea. 2B- Ringen (C), Evanter (C), Williamson (C), Nance (MS).

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