Courtesy of Cortland Sports Information Department
PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Lindsay Thayer threw a three-hit shutout with 14 strikeouts and Sarah Kubik singled in the game's lone run in the bottom of the sixth as nationally eighth-ranked St. John Fisher College edged visiting Cortland, 1-0, in the opening game of the best-of-three super regional.
The Cardinals (40-6) and the Red Dragons (33-14) will meet again Saturday at 1 p.m., and if Cortland is victorious a final game will follow. The winner of the super regional will advance to the eight-team NCAA DIvision III World Series May 25-30 in Oklahoma City.
Thayer, now 27-5, walked four batters in addition to allowing three hits. She outdueled Cortland senior Jamie Lachall (Philadelphia, PA/Sun Valley), who also threw a three-hitter. Lachall walked one, struck out two, and gave up one run and is now 13-8 on the spring. Lachall threw a no-hitter for four and two thirds innings before allowing a Emma Savas single in the fifth.
Fisher's winning rally started with a one-out walk by Katie Mazierski. Ashley Prince singled up the middle to move Mazierski to second and Kubik singled to left to drive in the go-ahead run.
Cortland had runners advance to second base in five of seven innings but was unable to score. Andrea Schoonmaker (Marlboro) led off the game with a walk and stole second, but otherwise Thayer struck out the side in the inning. Ericka Sadowski (Liverpool) singled and took second on a wild pitch in the second inning, and walks to Schoonmaker and Niki Barbato (East Meadow/Holy Trinity) helped Cortland put runners on first and second in the third.
Schoonmaker, who finished 1-for-2 with two walks, hit a one-out double in the fifth but was stranded after a pop-up and a groundout. Kaleigh Churchill (Camillus/West Genesee) singled with one out in the sixth and pinch runner Alissa De Padua (Milford, PA/Delaware Valley) moved to second on a groundout, but a groundout that Thayer deflected to the second baseman ended the threat.
Lachall allowed only one runner into scoring position over the first five innings. Kristina Balsano reached on a one-out error in the third, took second on a groundout and advanced to third on an illegal pitch, but Lachall got the next hitter to ground out back to her.
