ITHACA, N.Y. -- The fourth-seeded Alfred Saxons (36-6) beat the top-seeded Cortland Red Dragons (39-7) 3-1 in Friday's third game of the NCAA Division III Softball Regional hosted by Ithaca College. Alfred will play the winner of Friday's Ithaca-Lebanon Valley game Saturday at 2 p.m. with a trip to Sunday's championship round at stake. The Red Dragons will take on Polytechnic Saturday at 10 a.m. in an elimination game.
Alfred's win marked the first time in seven games of the regional that a lower seeded team won a game.
Junior Chelsey Cary held the Red Dragons off the scoreboard for 6.1 innings, striking out five in a complete-game four-higt effort. She worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the sixth when the Saxons turned an inning-ending double play: junior first baseman Ashley Passaro fielded a hard-hit ground ball and threw home to force the runner from third. The return throw to senior second baseman Karen Folts covering first beat the batter and ended the Cortland threat.
Sophomore third baseman Molly Shepherd, who had two of Alfred's seven hits, scored the game's first run in the top of the first. Senior shortstop Jesika LeBarron doubled after Shepherd's one-out single.
LeBarron scored the Saxons' second run when the Red Dragons threw away a sacrifice bunt attempt in the fourth. Alfred added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a bases-loaded groundout.
Junior shortstop
Donnalyn Cross (
pictured) scored Cortland's run in the top of the seventh, singling with one out before advancing to second then stealing third. Senior first baseman
Emily Ringen's two-out single scored Cross and brought the tying run to the plate but
Cary induced a groundout to end the game.
Sophomore left fielder
Lorraine Stoddard had two of Cortland's four hits.
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