Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The SUNY Oneonta softball team finally got to play today after a two-week layoff due to weather and field conditions around the region.  The Red Dragons traveled to SUNY Geneseo to open the SUNYAC schedule and came home with a sweep of the Blue Knights.  Strong pitching and timely hitting led them to wins of 5-1 and 9-2, as they extended its winning streak to seven games.

Oneonta (11-3) scored its first run of game one in the second inning when freshman Marlene Cuevas (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) doubled with two outs and then scored on a base hit by sophomore Brianna Calby (South Huntington/Walt Whitman).
 
The Red Dragons tacked on a couple more runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-0 lead.  Cuevas singled to start the inning and, with one out, they loaded the bases after singles by Meaghan Foster (Walden/Valley Central) and Jamie Whittam (Saugerties/Saugerties).  The Red Dragons scored its two runs after a pair of walks forced in Cuevas and Whittam.
 
Geneseo (3-7) scored its only run in the sixth inning, as freshman Sabrina DeAngelis (East Meadow/Kellenberg Memorial) held the Knights in check.  She went the distance and allowed only four hits while striking out five in her SUNYAC debut.  She is now 6-1 on the season.
 
Oneonta added two more runs in the top of the seventh for the final margin of victory.  Sophomore Traci Lichtenstein (Plainview/JFK) doubled in Kristyn Neroda (Pearl River/Pearl River) and Jennifer Brocco (Kingston/Kingston).  Lichtenstein finished the game with three runs batted in.
 
In the second game, Oneonta jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings.  Whittam went deep in the first inning and junior Nichole Paolino (Catskill/Catskill) had a two-run double in the second inning to lead the offense.
 
After Geneseo scored two runs in the bottom of the third, the Red Dragons came right back with three runs in the fourth to lead 6-2.  Brocco doubled to drive home two of the three runs in the inning, as she finished the game with three RBIs.
 
Neroda had a collegiate high three hits while Brocco, Whittam and Katie O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) each added two hits.
 
Junior Katie O'Flynn (Pearl River/Pearl River) picked up her first win of the season.  She threw 4-1/3 innings and struck out three batters.
 
Oneonta is scheduled to play its home opener tomorrow against rival SUNY Cortland beginning at 3pm.

The two wins for Oneonta also gave long time assistant coach and Oneonta native, John Speranzi, his 500th win with the program.  Now in his 25th season with the Red Dragons, Speranzi has been a part of a winning tradition that has produced three NCAA tournament teams since 1999.  In 2001, he was part of the staff that was honored as the Northeast Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.