ITHACA, N.Y. – Due to incoming weekend weather, the Ithaca College softball team rescheduled its home doubleheader with St. John Fisher University to Friday afternoon. For the third consecutive season, the teams split the series. The Cardinals took the first game 6-1, but Ithaca reversed its fortunes in the second game, securing a 5-2 victory.
 
Game 1: St. John Fisher 6, Ithaca 1
Both pitchers started strong, with Anna Cornell retiring the first four batters in order. Mari Spitz earned the first hit of the game, singling over the third base bag. Cornell escaped the inning by striking out the next two batters, both looking. Cate Murray put Ithaca on the scoreboard with a homer over the right field fence, her first of the season. The Cardinals answered in the next half inning, scoring an unearned run when Maddie Donlin doubled home Taylor Shackleton to tie the game at 1-1.
 
Fisher added three more runs on two hits, aided by another IC fielding error, to take a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Murray collected her second hit of the afternoon, doubling down the left field line, but was thrown out trying to steal third.
 
Both teams were held scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings. The Cardinals tagged on two more runs in the top of the seventh off Cornell, extending their lead to 6-1. The Bombers struggled to find their rhythm and were held to just three hits by Fisher's Ainsley Evanetski. Cornell took the loss, giving up four earned runs while striking out eight.
 
Game 2: Ithaca 5, St. John Fisher 2
The Cardinals broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third inning with Maddie Donlin doubling home Taylor Shackleton. The Bombers responded in the next half inning, stringing together three hits with Emersen Poulin and Kailen Winkelblech each recording an RBI. Ithaca carried a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning, where Taylor Brunn entered in relief of Mady Rowell. St. John Fisher loaded the bases with one out, but Brunn escaped by striking out a batter and inducing an inning-ending ground out.
 
The Bombers added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth when Kailen Winkelblech scored, and Belle de Oliveira delivered a bases-clearing single to center field, making it 5-1. In the next half inning, Brunn loaded the bases again but walked in a run, making it 5-2. She got out of the jam by retiring Maddie Donlin with a strikeout.
 
Mady Rowell reentered in the top of the seventh and retired the side in order to preserve the 5-2 win for Ithaca College. The sophomore pitched five innings, giving up four hits while striking out two to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Bombers collected eight hits, with Kailen Winkelblech and Haley Petrucci both finishing with multi-hit games.
 
With Friday's split, Ithaca improved to 10-2 overall and will have a quick turnaround, returning to action on Saturday, March 29, for a non-conference doubleheader at SUNY Oneonta. Game times are slated for 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.