ITHACA, N.Y. – Despite two rain delays, the No. 10 Ithaca College softball team strung together an impressive offensive effort to defeat Farmingdale State, 8-0 in six innings, on the first day of the NCAA Regional.
 
Ithaca scored eight runs on 13 hits en route to the victory. IC moves on to play Penn State Berks on Saturday at 12 p.m. for a chance to move ahead to the regional final on Sunday. Penn State Berks topped Brandeis, 5-3, in game one of the day.
 
The Bombers got on the board in the bottom of the first inning, starting with a Nikkey Skuraton single to right center field. Skuraton then stole second and was sent home on an Abby Shields single through the left side.
 
After three quick Farmingdale State outs in the top of the second inning, the Bombers went to work again in the bottom half of the inning, putting up two more runs.
 
First-year Daniella Mulvey got things going for the Bombers with a single to left field and advanced to second on a passed ball. Annie Cooney then drew a walk and both runners scored on a Vanessa Brown double down the right field line.
 
Ithaca forced three more quick outs in the top of the third inning before adding on another run in the bottom of the inning.
 
Abby Shields got things going with a single to center field and stole second to put herself in scoring position before Hannah Anderson was hit by a pitch.
 
Sophomore Gabby Laccona took one pitch during her at-bat before the game's second rain delay went into effect. After more than an hour delay, Laccona picked up right where the Bombers left off, ripping a single down the left field line to score Shields and give IC a 4-0 advantage.
 
Cooney led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single to the shortstop before Vanessa sent a single up the middle. With the hit, Brown became Ithaca's all-time career leader with 222 hits, previously set at 221 by Laura Remia (1998-2001).
 
Skuraton was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for the Bombers. A double up the middle from Alex Wright plated Cooney and Brown before a single from Shields pushed Skuraton home, bumping Ithaca's lead to 7-0.
 
Ithaca closed things out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Skuraton got things going with a double to left field before a Wright single to third base sent Skuraton home to end the game early.
 
Shields went 3-for-3 on the day with two RBI and one run scored while Skuraton finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Mulvey went 2-for-3 with a run scored while both Brown and Wright finished 2-for-4 on the day.
 
Senior Haley Congdon (6-3) picked up the win in the circle, pitching a complete game with just three hits, no runs and five strike outs.