The Oswego State softball team dropped a pair of games to Cortland Saturday afternoon at Laker Softball Field. In game one, the Lakers were narrowly edged 9-7 before falling 11-5 in the second contest. With the losses, Oswego goes to 4-6 in the conference and 10-10 overall. Cortland improves to 9-1 in the SUNYAC and 20-4 on the year.
Game 1:
Cortland began the scoring, recording five runs through the first third. Oswego cashed in its first run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an inning that started with an Alexis Nasca double. Replaced by Katie Heselden to run, she was moved to third on an Ashley Lyman fly out. She then was able to cross the plate after Melanie Klauser singled up the middle.
After Cortland tacked on another in the top of the fifth, Oswego made a big dent in the lead in the bottom of the side. Erin Sweeney led off with a double to center and was moved to third on a Jacquie Porreca groundout. Sweeney then took home as Nasca bombed one to right that was muffed by the right fielder. Lyman was walked on the next at bat to put two on for Gabriella Vertuccio, who doubled into left field scoring Nasca. With Lyman now on third and Vertuccio on second, Sarah McCullough got a piece of the action. She singled up the middle scoring Lyman, but Vertuccio was tagged out at home plate to end the inning.
With the score 7-4 going into the sixth, Oswego made another good attempt to come back as Porreca doubled with the bases loaded, scoring two. That was all the Lakers could muster though, eventually falling to the Red Dragons 9-7.
As a team, the Lakers put up 14 hits, the second most all year. Tori Trovato and Sweeney finished with three, while Porreca collected two.
Game 2:
Much like game one, Cortland opened up the scoring, tallying five in the opening frame. The Lakers were able to get one back in the following frame as Claire Hewitt singled in Lyman. Cortland tacked on another in the third before the teams traded runs in the fifth.
Cortland collected four more runs in the next two innings, giving them an 11-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Oswego made a solid attempt to come back, beginning with a no out double by Sweeney that scored Trovato from third. The Lakers piled in two more later in the frame on a Lyman double but that was it.
Softball will return to action with a little non-conference break as the team heads to Hamilton College on Tuesday for a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m.
