PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked Ithaca College softball team clinched the top seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship and earned home field advantage after splitting with the nationally No. 24-ranked St. John Fisher College Cardinals on Sunday.  The No. 23 Bombers, who had their 10-game winning streak snapped in the opening game, moved to 27-7 on the season and 13-1 in the conference standings while the Cardinals ended the day at 10-2 in the Empire 8 and 30-6 overall.

SJFC 1, ITHACA 0

Game one lived up to all the hype as neither team was able to generate any offense until the bottom of the sixth inning when Fisher manufactured the game's only run on a two-out single into left field.

Ithaca's lone hit in the contest came in the fourth inning when Casey Gavin doubled to the gap in left-center, but that would be it as Fisher's starting pitcher, Lindsey Thayer, struck out 17 for her 19th win.

Laura Quicker was saddled with the loss (12-3) despite only allowing two hits and one run over six innings.  She struck out seven.

ITHACA 7, SJFC 0

After struggling to get anything going in the first game, the Bombers' bats would come to life in the second game as Ithaca ripped four homeruns and never looked back.  Head coach Deb Pallozzi's squad got off to a quick start as Vanessa Brown ripped a two-out solo homerun over the leftfield fence in the top of the first inning to stake Ithaca to its first lead of the day, 1-0.

Allie Colleran would belt a two-run shot in the third inning to make it 3-0 before Kelly Robichaud connected for her second dinger in the last two days to make it 4-0 in Ithaca's favor.

The Cardinals would record two quick outs in the top of the seventh, but the Bombers responded with three more runs on four hits to take a 7-0 lead before Fisher could retire the side.  Nikkey Skuraton doubled to center before Ellie Murray stepped to the dish and ripped an RBI-double of her own to make it a four-run game.  The next batter, Colleran, ripped another blast over the outfield fences to give the Bombers a 7-0 lead as Ithaca's pitching took care of the rest.

Allison Macari won her third game in the last 24 hours after holding Fisher to just two hits over seven innings of work.  Macari, who won her 10th game in the process (10-2), struck out four in the win.

The Bombers, who are ranked first in the Northeast Region, will return to the diamond at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday when they close out the home portion of their regular season schedule with a non-conference doubleheader against Union College.