PITTSFORD, N.Y. - The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team advanced in the 2021 Empire 8 Championship on Thursday after eliminating Russell Sage after falling to third-seeded Alfred University earlier in the day at the Softball Complex.  With the split, Fisher, which is ranked 12th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, moved to 27-4 overall.

The Cardinals and Saxons will meet again at 12 p.m. on Saturday in the Championship round.  Fisher will need to win two games in the double elimination format to collect its fourth straight conference crown.

ALFRED 6, FISHER 0

In the opening game of the winner's bracket, Alfred jumped all over the Cardinals' pitching as the Saxons did a majority of the damage in the bottom of the first with five runs on five hits before Fisher could retire the side.

Sophomore Jess Patterson would recover, however, and found her groove as the right-hander shut down the Saxons' lineup over the next three innings until Alfred tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth after belting a leadoff home run to make it a six-run affair.

With only so many outs left in play, Fisher would get the leadoff hitter on in the top of the sixth when Sammie Torlish singled through the right side, but the Cardinals were unable to get anything going at the plate as Alfred punched its ticket to Saturday's championship game.

Torlish was 2-for-3 in the loss while Maddie Klidonas had two hits in three at-bats.  Rachel Evans had a double at the plate while Emma Smith and Emily Trotman rounded out the hitting for Fisher with one apiece.

Patterson fell to 14-2 on the season after allowing six runs on nine hits over six innings.  She struck out five.

FISHER 13, SAGE 5 (Six Innings)

Facing elimination, the Cardinals responded and needed just six innings to end Russell Sage's season. 

After falling behind in the first inning, Fisher plated two runs on three hits including RBI knocks from Torlish and Allie Klonowski to reclaim the advantage, 2-1, heading to the second.

After stranding a runner in scoring position in the top of the second, Sage was unable to get off the field in the bottom of the frame as Fisher pushed three more runs across the plate with the Allison Rogowski leading off with a solo home run before Trotman, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year on Wednesday, followed suit with a two-run blast of her own to make it 5-1 in Fisher's favor.

Trailing by four runs in the third, the Gators climbed back into contention with three runs on four hits and pulled to within one, but head coach Bari Mance's squad afforded itself some breathing room when Klidonas drove in a run with a single to left to make it 6-4.

After exchanging zeroes over the next two innings, Sage cut the deficit in half and scored a run in the top of the sixth, but the Cardinals' bats proved to be too much in the home half of the inning as Fisher notched seven runs on seven hits to earn the eight-run win.

Maria Marcera got the inning going after drawing a leadoff walk before Torlish obliterated a two-run shot to make it 8-5.  The Gators would hit Megan Kreger before coming up with an out, but Evans kept the rally going with a single to left.  With two on and one away, Rogowski singled to load the bases for Smith who sent two runners home with a hard-hit single to left to make it 10-5.  With four runs already in, Fisher added to its lead as Marcera delivered a two-run single before Torlish stepped in and hit a walk-off single deep to left to plate the winning run.

Trotman toed the rubber for Fisher and moved to 13-2 on the year after allowing 12 hits and five runs (four earned) over six innings of work.  The East Amherst native finished with four strikeouts.