The St. John Fisher College softball team faced familiar foe Ithaca College in an NCAA elimination game on Saturday morning at Eastern Connecticut State University.  The Bombers, who had faced Fisher five times previously this season, knocked off the Cardinals by an 8-0 score in five innings to eliminate Fisher from NCAA play.

The Cardinals, who reached the NCAAs with an at-large bid, finish the 2012 season with a 34-14 record. The 34 wins generated by the Cardinals this season mark the most since the 1999 campaign when Fisher ended the year with a 39-11 record.

The Bombers chased Fisher pitcher Sarah Stefanon from the game early, as they generated four hits over the first two thirds of the first inning.  A triple from Molly O'Donnell brought across Ithaca's first run, and the infielder was later scored with a long single to the right field gap. 

With two outs on the board and a 2-0 score favoring the Bombers, Danielle Leone came into the game to replace Stefanon.  The junior surrendered one hit that brought across another run, but was able to close the first inning with Ithaca leading 3-0. 

The Bombers took advantage of three Fisher errors in the fourth inning, as they hit three-straight singles with one out to push across three more runs.  With the score 6-0, Ithaca kept the inning going by reaching on another error and the Bombers eventually tacked on another two runs on a single by Rachel Dell'Orto. 

The Bomber's fourth inning made the score 8-0 and the Cardinals were unable to generate any runs in the top of the fifth, ending the game early due to the mercy rule. 

Despite the first and fourth innings, the Cardinals made excellent defensive plays in the second and third to hold the game at 3-0.  The bottom of the second was all about the Fisher defense, as Kelly Jones came through with a great double play for Ithaca's first two outs of the inning.  Jones snagged a hard liner then fired the ball to first baseman Sarah Fordyce to get the runner out at first.  Megan Zoerb ended the inning with a great diving stop on a grounder, firing over the Fordyce from her knees for the final out.

The Cardinals finished the game with just four hits, but Fisher tested the Bombers defense quite often, forcing the Empire 8 rival to make difficult plays to preserve the shutout.

Jennifer Vanek was the only Cardinal to register multiple hits in the game, as the senior finished 2-of-3 at the plate.  Fordyce and Kayla Goodberlet registered the Cardinals other hits.