CORTLAND, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College softball team was back in action on Tuesday as the Cardinals split a non-conference doubleheader at SUNY Cortland. With the decisions, Fisher moved its season record to 13-12 while the Red Dragons ended the day at 13-10.
After being held to just one hit in a 10-0 loss in the opening game, Fisher had an answer in the nightcap as sophomore pitcher
Emily Trotman moved to 10-6 on the season behind a 9-1 win in six innings.
Both teams were sharp in the circle early as neither allowed a run until the top of the fourth inning when one swing of the bat by
Mary Claire Grosvenor staked the Cardinals to a 1-0 lead.
Cortland answered with its only run in the home half of the fourth, but head coach
Bari Mance's team created some breathing room in the next inning with five runs on three hits and four Red Dragon errors to open up a 6-1 edge.
Julia Sortisio began the frame with a walk and moved to third following an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Trotman. With two runners on and no outs,
Ashley Prince was aided by another error as Cortland dropped a fly ball, but the Red Dragons recovered and were able to get Sortisio trying to score. With two bases still occupied,
Sarah Kubik stepped in and cracked a three-run home run to make it 4-1. From there,
Sammie Torlish, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week on Monday, reached on another infield error that allowed
Rachel Evans to come to the plate. The freshman made the most of the extra opportunity with a two-run blast to center before Cortland could retire the side.
Fisher was at it again in the top of the sixth as
Maddy Pepke led off with a double before moving to third on a single by Trotman. Prince collected an RBI with a groundout before Trotman scored on a throwing error. Leading 8-1, Fisher plated the deciding run two batters later as Torlish singled to right field to score Kubik as Fisher cruised to the eight-run win.
Trotman had Cortland guessing all afternoon after going six innings and allowing just one run on six hits with four strikeouts to her credit.
Sortisio was 2-for-3 in the win and now sits just 17 hits away from reaching 200 in her career. Trotman helped her own cause with two hits and a pair of runs scored while Kubik was 1-for-3 with a homer and three RBI. Grosvenor, Torlish, Evans,
Abby Flakus and Pepke rounded out the hitting for the Cardinals.
Fisher will return to conference play at 3 p.m. on Friday when it travels down East Avenue to take on Nazareth College in an Empire 8 doubleheader.
