The SUNY Oneonta softball team celebrated Senior Day with a doubleheader sweep of visiting SUNY Geneseo today on Red Dragon Softball field.  All six seniors played a role in the victories that raised Oneonta's overall record to 19-7 and 7-5 in the SUNYAC.
 
The Red Dragons got a pair of solid pitching performances by the senior duo of Sabrina DeAngelis (East Meadow/Kellenberg Memorial) and Amanda Graziano (Riverhead/Riverhead).  Both went the distance combining to strike out seven Geneseo batters today.  DeAngelis picked up her eighth win in game 1 while Graziano recorded her seventh win of the season in game 2.
 
Game 1 – Oneonta 8, Geneseo 3
Geneseo (15-9, 5-5 SUNYAC) scored a single run in the top of the first inning to grab an early lead.  Alyssa Persich led off the game with a single, went to second on a wild pitch and was then sacrificed to third before scoring on a ground out by Danni Napoli.
 
With runners at the corners in their half of the first, senior Marlene Cuevas (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham) knocked in classmate Katie O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) from third base to tie the game at one apiece.
 
The Knights added a pair of runs in the top of the third inning.  A throwing error by the catcher, allowed Anna Merante to reach second base bringing in Alyssa Persutti from third.  Merante scored two batters later, on an RBI single by pitcher Taylor Moore.
 
Oneonta bounced back in the home half of the inning putting up four runs to take a 5-3 lead.  Sophomore Selena Ruiz (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) got things started with an inside-the-park home run.  A relatively harmless ball hit up the middle took a bad bounce over the center fielder's head and went all the way to the fence.  Ruiz didn't let up being sent home by Coach Sara Headley.
 
Sophomore Dana Del Genio (New Hartford/New Hartford) kept things going with a single before stealing second and then scoring on an RBI single by Cuevas.  Freshman Kate Jencarelli (Roseland, NJ/West Essex ) was then hit by a pitch.  With two outs, senior Jennifer Brocco (Kingston/Kingston) drilled a double to left center to bring home Cori McFall (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) and Jencarelli.
 
The Red Dragons loaded the bases in the fourth inning and scored a single run when McFall was hit by a pitch, which brought home Del Genio.
 
The final two runs for Oneonta came in the fifth when Brocco, who led off with her second double of the game, scored an unearned run before O'Gorman scored on a double by Del Genio.
 
Game 2 – Oneonta 5, Geneseo 1
Oneonta got on the scoreboard first in game 2 when Cuevas legged out a triple, sliding underneath the tag, with two outs to drive in Del Genio who had walked.
 
Geneseo's lone run came in the fifth on a two-out RBI single by Persutti that brought in Taylor Fedor from second base.
 
The game wasn't tied for long, as Oneonta took advantage of a pair of errors by the Geneseo left fielder and put four runs on the scoreboard in the home half of the fifth.
 
Back-to-back singles by O'Gorman and Ruiz brought Del Genio to the plate.  Del Genio singled to left, which got through the left fielder allowing both O'Gorman and Ruiz to score.  Del Genio, who advanced to third on the error, came in on a sacrifice fly to center field by Cuevas.  The next batter was Jencarelli who proceeded to hit a moon shot over the center field fence for her third home run of the season.
 
Graziano retired the Knights in order in both the sixth and seventh innings to pick up the win.
 
Oneonta will be at Ithaca on Tuesday to play its rescheduled doubleheader with the Bombers.  First pitch is scheduled for 3pm.