Rochester, N.Y. -- The softball team (16-8, 7-1 Empire 8) swept Saturday's doubleheader at St. John Fisher by routing the Cardinals 7-1 in the opener and 8-0 (in five innings) in game two. The Cardinals, who were picked first in the preseason Empire 8 coaches' poll, drop to 4-4 in the league. Ithaca won game one behind home runs by junior catcher Kerry Barger (Carmel/Carmel) and freshman outfielder Molly O'Donnell (Niskayuna/Niskayuna) and a career-best 10 strikeouts by junior Alison Greaney (John F. Kennedy/Iselin, N.J.). In the nightcap junior Brittany Lillie (Honeoye Falls-Lima/Honeoye Falls) threw a one-hit shutout and collected three hits of her own, including a home run.
Greaney pitched a four-hit complete game, winning her sixth straight decision and lowering her ERA to 2.10. She walked only two hitters and improved to 7-1.
Barger's first home run of the season -- a one-out shot to center field in the second -- put the Bombers ahead to stay. She added a two-run single in the fifth.
Sophomore shortstop Annemarie Forenza (Hunterdon Central/Whitehouse Station, N.J.) and junior second baseman Kait Dolan (Victor/Farmington) added two hits apiece.
Dolan singled in Greaney in Ithaca's two-run third (a second run scored on one of the Cardinals' two errors). Greaney drove in a run with a sixth-inning infield grounder and O'Donnell hit her fourth home run of the season in the seventh to cap the scoring.
Lillie dominated the Cardinals at the plate and in the circle to complete the sweep. She allowed just one baserunner -- a lead-off single in the second -- and struck out six batters to raise her season record to 4-2.
Her solo home run in the fourth inning was her team-best sixth of the season and the 11th of her career. She added an RBI single to cap Ithaca's four-run fifth inning. Lillie ranks fourth on the program's all-time home run list and her .697 career slugging percentage is Ithaca's second-best mark.
As a team the Bombers have hit 16 home runs this spring, marking their seventh-highest single-season total. With 16 games left, Ithaca is 10 away from the school record total of 26 set in 1999.
Dolan scored twice, including Ithaca's first run. She led off the first by reaching on an outfield error and came around on another outfield error that followed a Lillie single.
Junior Courtney Noster (Clearview/Lorain, Ohio) singled in a pair of runs in the third and senior first baseman Caitlin Ryan (Allentown/Clarksburg, N.J.) and freshman center fielder Jennifer Biondi (Morris Knolls/Denville, N.J.) added RBI hits in the fifth.
O'Donnell collected two hits, including a double, and Forenza singled twice. Freshman outfielder Adrienne Walters (Solon/Solon, Ohio) stole her fifth base of the season (she's second on the team).
The Bombers continue Empire 8 play Sunday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Nazareth.
Game one box score
Game two box score
