After forcing a winner-take-all game, the St. John Fisher College softball team lost to the Ithaca College Bombers in the Empire 8 Championship by a 2-0 score on Sunday afternoon at Kostrinsky Field.   The Cardinals, who needed to beat Ithaca twice in order to claim the title, defeated the Bombers 2-1 in the first game of the day but could not complete the sweep as they fall to 33-12 on the season.

Fisher will now wait to hear if it earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship.  Selections will be announced on Monday at 10 a.m. on NCAA.com.  If the Cardinals do not make the tournament, they will take part in the ECAC Championships next weekend. 

Game One: Fisher 2, Ithaca 1

With one swing of the bat, Jennifer Vanek pushed Fisher into the Empire 8 Championship when she sent a long ball into the gap for the walk-off win in the seventh inning.  After Kelly Jones earned first base with a single, Vanek hit into left center to bring Jones across the final three bags.  The win allowed Fisher to play Ithaca one more time, with the second game determining the Empire 8 Champion.

The Cardinals earned their first run in the bottom of the first inning when Sarah Fordyce hit a fly ball to left field that was misplayed by Bomber fielder Rachel Dell'Orto.  The ball fell for a double and allowed Carissa Carlson to score from first base after reaching on a fielder's choice.

Down 1-0, the Bombers evened the game in the fifth inning when Adrienne Walters shot a hard liner past third base to bring Julianne Vincent home.

Sarah Stefanon pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits and striking out six batters with a single walk. 

Jones and Leanne Merchant led the Cardinals with two hits each, while Jennifer Martin and Krista Robarge both had a hit.

Game Two:  Ithaca 2, Fisher 0

Ithaca scored the game's only two runs on two errors from the Fisher defense to claim its eighth Empire 8 title.  Stefanon pitched again for Fisher, allowing just five hits and striking out eight with no earned runs on the day. 

Ithaca jumped out of the gate by earning a run in the top of the first inning.  After Francesca Busa led-off the game by reaching on a fielding error, she was brought across the plate by Sydney Folk with a single to second base to put the Bombers up 1-0.

The game remained at 1-0 until the fifth inning when, with two outs, Ithaca pushed another run across after Fisher's third error of the game.  With runners at first and second, Jennifer Biondi hit a ball to second base that was misplayed and allowed Busa to score the game's second run.

Fisher finished with just three hits in the contest with Vanek, Martin and Merchant the recipients.