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Box Score 2 BROCKPORT, N.Y. – After suffering a heartbreaking 13-inning loss to Cortland early in the day, the Plattsburgh State softball rebounded with an 8-0 win over Oswego in five innings to continue on in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Softball Tournament at Brockport.
The Cardinals began the day locked in a pitcher’s duel with No. 2 seed Cortland that stretched 13 innings. After four and a half scoreless innings, the Red Dragons broke through with a solo home run from Erin Wolstenholme to take a 1-0 lead.
Brianna Clarke drew a lead-off walk in the top of the sixth before ending up on third after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. With two outs, Sam Capobianco stepped to the plate and sent a single to center field, driving in Clarke and tying the game at 1-1.
From that point, Cortland’s Amber Corrigan and Plattsburgh State’s Ashley Marshall took over, combining for seven scoreless innings before a two-out single by Jaime Bucci in the bottom of the 13th put the winning run on base.
With the runner on the move, Cortland’s Diane Cork ripped a double to left center, bringing Bucci home for the walk-off 2-1 win.
Corrigan earned the win by holding the Cardinals to one run on seven hits through 13 innings. She walked six and struck out eight.
Despite the outcome, Marshall gave the Cardinals another stellar outing. She allowed five runs, two hits and two walks while striking out 13 in 12.2 innings of work.
The Cardinals were not without opportunities to get the win, leaving seven runners on in extra-innings. Plattsburgh State’s best chance came in the eighth when the Red Dragons intentionally walked Capobianco to load the bases with two outs, but the Cardinals failed to push the runner across.
Offensively, Brittany Marshall was the only Cardinals to have a multi-hit game, finishing the lengthy battle with two hits. Bucci also picked up two hits for the Red Dragons.
Facing elimination later in the afternoon, Plattsburgh State took the field against sixth-seeded Oswego in Friday’s final game and defeated the Lakers, 8-0, in a five-inning game.
After struggling to score runs in the early game, the Cardinals quickly jumped ahead of the Lakers. Clarke drove in Plattsburgh State’s first run on an RBI double to right center, scoring Kristine Gay. The next batter, Michelle Iannone, followed with an RBI single before scoring later in the inning on a fielder’s choice to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead at the end of the first.
Plattsburgh State made some noise again in the fourth with back-to-back doubles from Brittany Marshall and Clarke to give the Cardinals a six-run lead.
A two-run single by Samantha Tenney in the bottom of the fifth ended the game, and allowed the Cardinals to advance in the tournament.
Four Cardinals had two hits in Friday’s late game, including Clarke who went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and a run scored.
Ashley Marshall returned to the circle for the Cardinals in game two, holding the Lakers to just two hits through five innings while striking out five batters to earn the win. In an impressive day of work, Marshall also broke two more Cardinal pitching records. With 18 combined strikeouts, she set a new single-season mark with 288 strikeouts, breaking her own record that she set last season with 275. Marshall also became the new all-time leader with 89 career starts. That record was previously held by Jaclyn Leitze, who made 88 starts for Plattsburgh State from 2005-2008. Marshall is now the owner of 12 Cardinal pitching records.
Only three teams remain in the tournament after Friday’s action – Cortland, Geneseo and Plattsburgh State. The Cardinals will get a chance to avenge Friday’s loss to Cortland as the two teams will meet again Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at the Clark V. Whited Complex at Brockport.
