KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team split a pair of games on Thursday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.  After falling on a walk-off single to No. 15 Coe College, the Cardinals, who are ranked second overall in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association national poll, earned a walk-off win over No. 11 Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the nightcap.  Fisher is now 7-1 on the season.

COE 3, FISHER 2

After stranding five runners over the first three innings, the Cardinals broke through in the top of the fourth with one run on two hits.  Danielle Ventrone singled through the left side and moved to second on a groundout.  Kristina Balsano stepped to the plate and smacked an RBI-double off the right field fence to stake Fisher to a 1-0 lead.

The Kohawks answered in the home half of the fourth with two runs of their own despite not getting a hit in the inning.  Coe drew four walks against Fisher's pitcher, Lindsey Thayer, to take a one-run lead into the top of the fifth.

The Cardinals tied the game at two runs apiece in the fifth as Katie Mazierski led off with a walk before being moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ashley Prince.  After a foul out to the left side, Karlie Neale tagged one into center to plate Mazierski and tie the game.

With the score still tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Coe put the winning run on base with just one out after an error in Fisher's outfield.  The runner advances to third after consecutive wild pitches and came around to score the winning run on a long single to left-center.

Thayer (3-1) took the loss in the circle despite only surrendering one hit over 6.1 innings of work.  Thayer struck out 10 overall and walked six.

FISHER 3, W.P.I. 2

The Engineers jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning after three straight singles coupled with an infield error by Fisher allowed WPI to plate a pair of runs before the Cardinals could escape the jam.

The Cardinals cut the deficit in half in the home half of the first as Julia Sortisio led off the frame with a single and quickly stole second.  After moving to third on a groundout, Prince notched an RBI-groundout to the right side as Sortisio scurried home ahead of the throw to make it 2-1.

In the third inning, Balsano got into one after booming a solo homerun over the left field fence to knot things up at 2-2.

Neither team was able to score the difference maker until the bottom of the seventh inning when Sortisio smacked a walk-off RBI-single up the middle that plated Emma Savas to give Fisher the 3-2 win.

Monica Moses started for Fisher in the pitching circle but did not factor in the decision.  Moses threw 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on four hits before being lifted for Thayer in the fifth.  Thayer moved to 4-1 after being credited with the win.  The junior pitcher tossed 2.2 perfect innings in relief and struck out six. 

Fisher will return to action on Friday with its final two games in Florida beginning with an 11 a.m. showdown with Franklin College before taking on Simmons College at 1:15 p.m. at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.