After taking the opening two games of its season-opening trip to Tuscon, AZ, the SUNY Oneonta softball team has struggled a bit offensively dropping four straight. The Red Dragons fell to St. John Fisher and Saint Benedict on Tuesday and then were defeated by Wittenberg and Moravian yesterday. Both St. John Fisher and Moravian are nationally ranked in Division III.
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In their losses to St. John Fisher and Saint Benedict, Oneonta ran into some strong pitching and managed only 10 hits combined in the two games. Freshman
Amanda Sexton (Port Jervis/Port Jervis) and sophomore
Brooke Corbett (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central) each had two hits against Saint Benedict.
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In their first game yesterday, the Red Dragons jumped out early but couldn't hold the lead falling to Wittenberg 9-7. Oneonta collected 10 hits including three each from senior
Cori McFall (Pleasant Valley/Arlington) and junior
Selena Ruiz (Westbury/W.T. Clarke). McFall led the Red Dragons with three runs batted in while Ruiz scored three times. Junior
Dana Del Genio (New Hartford/New Hartford) collected a pair of hits, scored twice and was walked twice.
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Oneonta grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by McFall that drove in Ruiz. The Red Dragons took advantage of some miscues to plate four runs in the bottom of third inning to push its lead to 5-0.
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Wittenberg stormed back with six runs in the top of the fourth thanks to a pair of two-run home runs. They added three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to increase their lead to 9-5.
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Oneonta rallied in the home half of the sixth but could only add a pair of runs. McFall hit a two-out single to center field to drive in Ruiz and Del Genio.
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Against Moravian, Oneonta fell behind 4-1 after one inning and never was able to mount any type of a comeback eventually falling 12-4. Junior
Lauren Sabatino (Bayville/Locust Valley) collected three hits and McFall added two more hits to her total for the day. Del Genio smacked her first home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth inning.
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Oneonta has an off day on Thursday before concluding its trip with games on Friday and Saturday.
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