ERIE, Pa. – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team advanced in the Regional Championship on Sunday after eliminating York College of Pennsylvania in the NCAA Division III Championship at Penn State Behrend. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked 16th in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, moved to 31-6 and will take on No. 14 Rochester Sunday afternoon for a spot in the Division III World Series.
The Cardinals jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in just the first inning after
Sammie Torlish singled and came around to score when the Spartans mishandled a ball in the outfield to give Fisher a 1-0 edge.
The lead held through three innings before York tied the game, but the Spartans were unable to put up a zero in the next inning as Fisher manufactured a run after
Emily Trotman led off with a double before moving to third on a wild pitch and scoring on a sacrifice fly by
Maria Marcera to make it 2-1.
Leading by one, Fisher added an insurance run in the top of the sixth when
Allie Klonowski crushed her team-leading 10th home run with a shot to left to lift Fisher to a 3-1 advantage as the inning turned over.
In the bottom of the sixth, the wheels seemed to come off for Fisher as the Cardinals had three errors in the inning and gave up three runs on three hits with York forging ahead, 4-3.
Down to its final three outs and facing a one-run gap, Fisher responded as Trotman worked a leadoff walk before
Megan Kreger kept the team's hopes alive with a two-out single to center. With two on and two away, Klonowski tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI-single to the Spartans' shortstop while
Rachel Evans atoned for an earlier error with a two-run double to deep right center that made it 6-4 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Trailing by a pair, York was unable to get anything going at the plate against
Jess Patterson as the sophomore struck out the final hitter to propel Fisher to the championship series against the No. 14 Yellowjackets.
Trotman started in the circle for Fisher and did not factor in the decision after going 3.2 innings and allowing one run of four hits. Patterson threw the final 3.1 innings and moved to 16-3 overall with three runs (two earned) on four hits to her credit.
