Cortland Standard .net

Diane Cork homered in each game to lead a doubleheader power display that has SUNY Cortland in first place in the conference softball standings.
The Red Dragons hit four home runs to account for five of their eight runs scored in Wednesday afternoon’s sweep of visiting New Paltz, Cortland prevailing 3-2 and 5-1 in the SUNY Athletic Conference twin bill.
Mikayla Shade belted a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Cortland captured the opening contest at Dragon Field, while Niki Barbato contributed a two-run blast in the second game victory.
Cork and Barbato share the team lead with five homers apiece this spring.
First place Cortland now stands 12-2 in the conference and 26-10 overall with four games remaining. The Red Dragons are scheduled for doubleheaders Friday at Potsdam and Saturday at Plattsburgh.
Geneseo is currently second at 11-3 and defending champion Oneonta is third at 10-4, each also with four games left. The regular-season champion will host the league’s six-team, double-elimination post-season tournament April 30-May 3.
Cortland 3, New Paltz 2: Pitcher Jamie Lachall improved to 9-2 with a complete game six-hitter, striking out three and not walking a batter. She out-dueled New Paltz’s Katie Rutcofsky, who allowed six hits over six innings with two strikeouts and no walks.
New Paltz took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a homer by Danielle Bruno, who had entered the game defensively the previous half inning. Cortland tied the game in the bottom of the frame on a Cork solo homer to left center with two outs.
In the bottom of the fifth, Rosie Phillips singled with two outs and went to third on a Jamie Bucci single through the right side. Bucci then stole second, and Phillips scored when the throw to second went into center field.
The Hawks (8-6 SUNYAC, 16-13 overall) knotted the game in the sixth. Shayna Burgess led off with a single and went to third on a Fallon Spriggs single. Spriggs was then caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out during the next at-bat, but Burgess took off during the play and beat the throw home.
Shade broke the tie with a one-out homer to straight-away center that hit off the top of the fence and continued over. Lachall finished off the victory by retiring the side in order in the seventh.
Bucci finished 2-for-3 for the Red Dragons, while Spriggs and Bruno each went 2-for-2 for New Paltz.
Cortland 5, New Paltz 1: Cortland opened the scoring in the third on a Cork homer to center that hit off the top of the fence, then ricocheted off the flagpole beyond the wall.
In the fourth, Courtney Kadish singled with two outs, pinch hitter Alicia Flanagan walked, and pinch hitter Andrea Schoonmaker hit an RBI double to right that hit about halfway up the fence. Flanagan was thrown out trying to score on the play to end the inning and keep the score at 2-0.
In the fifth, Cork drew a one-out walk and Barbato blasted a two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole. New Paltz picked up a run in the sixth on a Burgess RBI single, but Cortland closed the scoring in the bottom of the inning on a Schoonmaker run-scoring single.
Starting Cortland hurler Sarah Salamone (6-4) gave up only two hits and no runs over five innings for the victory. She struck out one and walked one. Aexandrea Flint gave up one run over the final two frames.
Barbato finished the game 3-for-3 and drove in two runs, while Schoonmaker was 2-for-2 with a pair of ribbies and Kadish went 2-for-3.