ITHACA, N.Y. -- The second-seeded softball team defeated third-seeded Rensselaer 10-1 in six innings in the second round of the winner's bracket at the NCAA Regional Championship Tournament, hosted by Ithaca at Kostrinsky Field. The Bombers improved to 37-4 on the season and tied the school record for wins in a season, which was set by the 2002 national championship team.
Ithaca struck first in the top of the second inning when senior
Stacey Bartels (Skyview/Vancouver, Wash.) singled down the left field line, scoring junior
Mel Chinigo (Norwich, CT/Norwich Free Academy) from second base to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead. The Red Hawks (35-5) tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, but the Ithaca answered with four runs in the fourth to take control of the game.
With runners on first and third junior
Hannah Shalett (Shepaug Valley/Bridgewater, Conn.) pulled off a successful suicide squeeze that scored classmate
Jenn Marro (Bethlehem/Delmar) from third. Sophomore
Erica Cutspec (Fort Plain/Fort Plain) followed with a two-run triple to right-center field to score
Bartels and
Shalett, and later scored on a passed ball to give Ithaca a 5-1 lead.
The Bombers added three runs in the top of the fifth as
Cutspec walked with the bases loaded to plate sophomore
Jessica Stangarone (Brewster/Brewster) and senior
Kaitlyn Dulac (Bay View/East Greenwich, R.I.) singled down the right field line to score
Bartels and
Marro. Ithaca score two more runs in the sixth on a pinch-hit singled from senior
Amanda Illinger (Norwich Free Academy/Hanover, Conn.) and a
Bartels double to left-center field for the 10-1 final.
Sophomore
Nicole Cade (Beaverton/Portland, Ore.) allowed one run on three hits with seven strikeouts to improve to 19-2 on the season.
Bartels and
Dulac were two-for-three at the plate with two RBIs, while
Marro was two-for-three with three runs scored.
The Bombers will next face top-seeded Plattsburgh on Saturday, May 13, at 10 a.m. Rensselaer will face fourth-seeded Union in an elimination game on Saturday at noon.
