FREDONIA, N.Y –
Cailey Cuttita (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the seventh as part of a three-homer, six-run inning for Cortland as the Red Dragons rallied to defeat Fredonia, 10-5, in the first game of a scheduled doubleheader. The second game was canceled due to the weather.
With the win, Cortland (19-17, 12-5 SUNYAC) clinched the second seed for the upcoming six-team, double-elimination SUNYAC tournament. The Red Dragons will open versus fifth-seeded Plattsburgh Thursday at 11 a.m. The entire tournament will be hosted by top seed Geneseo.
Fredonia scored three times in the bottom of the sixth on the combination of three hits and two errors in tough-weather conditions to take a 5-4 lead. The final run came on Katelyn Dennis sacrifice fly in foul territory down the right field line.
Ericka Sadowski (Liverpool) led off the bottom of the seventh with a bunt single, and with one out Cuttita hit her first collegiate homer over the fence in left to put Cortland ahead 6-5. With two outs,
Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) walked and stole second,
Kelly O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) walked, and
Skyler Hoyt (Endicott/Union-Endicott) blasted a three-run homer to push the lead to 9-5.
Hannah Feldman (Buffalo/Sweet Home) followed with a solo homer to close the inning's scoring. Feldman leads Cortland with 14 home runs this spring, followed by Hoyt with six.
Sam Van Dorn (Medford/Patchogue-Medford) retired Fredonia in order in the bottom of the seventh to finish the complete-game victory. She allowed five runs, but only one earned, over seven innings with four strikeouts and five walks. Fredonia finished with nine hits.
The Blue Devils (11-23, 4-13 SUNYAC) took a 1-0 lead on Makenzie Keeler's leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. Cortland put up two runs in the third on RBI sinlges by Hoyt and
Taylor Felicello (Marlboro), and added a run in the fourth on another Hoyt RBI single.
Fredonia put together a two-out rally to close within 3-2 in the fifth. A single, an error and a walk set up Alisa Oppenheimer's pinch-hit RBI infield single, but Van Dorn got the next batter to ground out to avoid further damage.
Hoyt's sac fly in the sixth gave Cortland a 4-2 led. She finished 3-for-4 with a homer, six RBI and two runs scored. O'Gorman went 3-for-3 with a triple, double, walk and three runs, while Felicello and Sadowski each went 2-for-5. Felicello drove in a run and Sadowski scored once.
Amber Piniewski was 3-for-3 and Keeler ended 2-for-3 with a walk and homer to lead Fredonia. Katie Yudin started and gave up three runs, one earned, on seven hits over four and a third innings. She struck out one and walked three. Sam Seegar suffered the loss in relief as she allowed seven runs, six earned, in two and a third innings.
