POTSDAM, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State softball team split a pair of State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) games against SUNY Potsdam on Saturday afternoon at Bears Softball Field, winning game one, 8-0, in five innings before falling, 3-2, in game two.
 
Plattsburgh State moves to 19-15 overall (9-5 SUNYAC) with the results and next visits Middlebury College on Tuesday, April 25, for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader. Potsdam moves to 6-19 overall (1-13 SUNYAC) with the results and next hosts Johnson State College for a 1 p.m. doubleheader tomorrow.
 
Game 1: Plattsburgh State 8, Potsdam 0 (5 inn.)
 
Behind a two-hit shutout from freshman pitcher Rhea Pitkin (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown), Plattsburgh State cruised to an 8-0 victory in a run-rule-shortened five-inning contest.
 
After two innings of scoreless play, Plattsburgh State scored four runs in the third. Junior center fielder Dominique Zummo (Commack, N.Y./St. Anthony's) plated sophomore second baseman Anna Fisher (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport) with a single to center field to provide the first run of the game before sophomore left fielder Amy Glashoff (Montrose, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) scored on a wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat. Junior catcher Jackie Decker (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson) then plated Zummo with a sacrifice fly to left field before freshman first baseman Haleigh Agans (Brasher Falls, N.Y./St. Lawrence Central) capped off the scoring in the inning with a solo home run that stretched her hit streak to 20 games.
 
The Cardinals scratched another pair of runs across in the fourth with an RBI single by Glashoff that plated junior pinch runner Ashley Bartnik (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) and an error that allowed Glashoff to score with two outs. In the fifth, junior third baseman Kelsey Gage (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) ripped a two-run home run to left center to round out scoring in the contest.
 
Zummo and Glashoff led the way for Plattsburgh State offensively with two hits apiece, while freshman left fielder Lucy Condon tallied Potsdam's only two hits of the game.
 
Pitkin fanned seven batters and yielded just three walks in the winning effort in the circle for the Cardinals, while freshman pitcher Megan Fish sustained the loss for the Bears.
 
Game 2: Potsdam 3, Plattsburgh State 2
 
Potsdam ended a 12-game losing streak against Plattsburgh State in the nightcap, using a two-run home run in the fourth inning to take a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the afternoon.
 
Gage kicked off scoring in the top of the first with an RBI single through the left side that scored Zummo, while senior shortstop Jordan Ott tied the game in the home half of the third with an RBI single up the middle that pushed across freshman second baseman Sarah Hyland. In the fourth, sophomore shortstop Kaitlyn Preiss (Cornwall, N.Y./Cornwall) put the Cardinals on top with an RBI single to left field that drove in Fisher, while junior third baseman Chelsea Streeter blasted a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to give the Bears the lead for good.
 
Preiss and Gage each had two hits for the Cardinals, while Zummo picked up her 99th career hit in the contest. Ott finished with two of the Bears' seven hits.
 
Junior pitcher Katie Pitkin (Dexter, N.Y./General Brown) sustained the loss for the Cardinals in the circle, though she did strike out five batters during her five innings of work. Junior pitcher Taylor Smith (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) yielded just one hit in an inning of scoreless relief. Junior pitcher Meghan Dougherty picked up the win for Potsdam, while sophomore pitcher Alissa McCauley earned the save.