ITHACA, N.Y. -- The second-seeded Ithaca Bombers (33-13) beat the fourth-seeded Alfred Saxons (36-7) 5-1 in Saturday's third game of the NCAA Division III Softball Regional being held at Kostrinsky Field. The Bombers advance to Sunday's championship round needing one win to claim the regional title. Alfred will face the winner of Saturday's Cortland-Lebanon Valley game Sunday at noon; the winner of that game will take on the Bombers at 2 p.m. needing two victories to win the regional championship.
Freshman left fielder Molly O'Donnell hit her team-leading seventh home run and senior first baseman Caitlin Ryan had three hits to lead Ithaca's offense.
O'Donnell hit a two-run home run in the first, one batter after junior Kerry Barger singled home junior right fielder Britt Lillie for Ithaca's first run.
O'Donnell added another RBI in the third, singling to score Lillie (who'd led off the inning with a double and moved to third on an illegal pitch).
After Alfred pushed an unearned run across the board in the fifth -- sophomore left fielder Shanna Ewoldt reached on an error to lead off the inning and pinch-runner Angela Netta scored on a two-out infield single by third baseman Molly Shepherd -- the Bombers answered with a sixth-inning run. Junior second baseman Kait Dolan singled in the run.
Senior Alyssa Brook improved to 14-7 (winning her sixth straight decision) with the complete-game victory. She struck out six and gave up just four hits without walking a batter.
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