The St. John Fisher College softball team won both its games in the Empire 8 Conference Championship on Friday, beating No. 2 Elmira College in game one of the day and No. 1 seeded Utica College in the night cap.  With the two wins, Fisher will move on to play in the Championship title game on Saturday, facing the winner of Elmira and Utica at 1 p.m.

Since the Cardinals are 2-0 in the tournament, they would automatically become Champions with a win on Saturday.  However, with a loss, they would have to play a final game on Sunday as the Conference Championship is double elimination format.

Game One: No. 3 Fisher 2, No. 2 Elmira 0 (12 innings)

The Cardinals opened Empire 8 Championship play with a marathon of a game.  It took 12 innings to decide, but Meghan Burns' solo shot in the top of the final inning proved to be the difference in a 2-0 victory over No. 2 Elmira College.  It was Burns' only hit of the game and it came on the first pitch Alex Puglisi threw in the inning.

Fisher added an insurance run with two outs after Danielle Leone singled to center field, scoring pinch runner Christina Sakran from second base.  Sakran came in to run for Leanne Merchant who reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. 

It was a scoreless game up until that inning, with the Cardinal defense coming up with some big plays to thwart off Elmira scoring opportunities.  In the fifth inning, the Soaring Eagles led off with a triple from Ashley Plamer before trying to suicide squeeze the run in.  However, Fisher's defense was ready for the play and put together a 5-2-6-3-1 rundown to keep the game at 0-0.

A nearly identical situation came up in the seventh, with Palmer again leading off with a triple to right field.  The next batter walked to put runners on the corners with no outs.  After the first out, Palmer tried to score the walk-off run on a grounder but Sarah Fordyce picked up the ball and fired to Merchant, creating another rundown situation.  Merchant had to reach for the throw and, not only did her stretch kept the winning run off the board, it took the scoring threat away when she threw to Kayla Goodberlet for the tag out.

Fisher pitcher Sarah Stefanon and the Soaring Eagle's Puglisi battled it out in the circle all game so it was only fitting that Puglisi came to the plate in the bottom of the 12th with two outs on the board.  Stefanon, however, won the battle when Puglisi grounded out back to the pitching circle to end the game.

Stefanon struck out 12 batters in the shutout and scattered seven hits.  The Cardinals connected for six hits (four coming in the 12th) as Puglisi picked up seven strikeouts.  Goodberlet was the only Cardinal to tally multiple hits in the game, posting singles in the 10th and 12th innings.

Game Two: No. 3 Fisher 3, No. 1 Utica 1

The host Pioneers were the first to strike with a solo home run in the top of the third inning.  But that lead didn't last long as Krista Robarge led off the bottom half of the inning with a single shot of her own, tying the game at 1-1.

Stefanon held Utica scoreless for the rest of the game, and back-to-back sixth inning home runs from Jessie Smyrski and Goodberlet lifted Fisher to the win.  Smyrski also made the game's final out, coming through with a difficult catch on a fading ball in center field.

The Cardinal defense was, again, stellar.  The team went without an error in both games, while Robarge and Kate Disbrow made key outs in game two.  With Utica searching for a run, Robarge snagged a bouncing ball for the second to last out of the game and Disbrow came through with a tricky over the shoulder catch on a blooper to short left field earlier in the contest.

Merchant and Burns finished with two hits in the second game, while Robarge, Goodberlet and Smyrski each had a hit; all three were home runs.

Stefanon picked up her second win of the day, scattering six hits and striking out four.