ITHACA, N.Y. -- The third-seeded Lebanon Valley Flying Dutchmen (34-12) beat the top-seeded Cortland Red Dragons (40-8) 1-0 in Saturday's final game of the NCAA Division III Softball Regional hosted by Ithaca College. The Flying Dutchmen will face Alfred at noon Sunday, with the winner needing two wins over Ithaca to claim the regional title. Cortland has been eliminated from the tournament.
Junior Laura Snyder shut down Cortland with a complete-game one-hit shutout, allowing only five base runners, and Lebanon Valley scored the game's only run on a one-out wild pitch in the seventh inning.
Snyder fanned nine batters (she's struck out 26 hitters in 16 innings at the regional) and retired the first nine Red Dragons before junior second baseman Donnalyn Cross led off the fourth with a single. Cross was sacrificed to second but Snyder worked out of trouble.
Lebanon Valley scored the game's only run thanks to the game's only extra-base hit -- a lead-off triple by shortstop Meaghan Donoghue to right field. Senior Katie Finch responded with three straight strikeouts but on an 0-2 pitch to first baseman Kristen Uhas, a wild pitch allowed Donoghue to score without a play.
The Red Dragons threatened in each of the last three innings as well; in the fifth, shortstop Jessica Harman walked but was thrown out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt by left fielder Lorraine Stoddard. Stoddard stole second and when center fielder Brooke Weidman grounded to the left side, Stoddard eluded her tag attempt and Weidman hustled into second to put runners on second and third with two outs but a deep line drive to right center by a Cortland pinch hitter was run down by center fielder Chelsea Kehr.
In the bottom of the sixth an infield error and a passed ball by Lebanon Valley put right fielder Lucia Meola at second with one out. Meola moved to third on a ground out but Snyder wriggled out of the jam with a fly ball for the final out.
Stoddard drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh to bring the winning run to the plate, but Snyder struck out the final two batters to eliminate the Red Dragons -- who'd won two straight regional titles.
Finch finished with a three-hitter, striking out 10 without issuing a walk. She threw just 84 pitches.
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