ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The SUNY Oneonta softball team dropped the first game of their home opening doubleheader to Ithaca, 3-2, before the teams tied game two at 11 due to darkness after six innings, Friday afternoon. On the day, senior Marissa Nagel (Averill Park/Averill Park) went 2-for-3 with two triples, four walks, three RBI, and scored four times, while sophomore Julia Serena (White Plains/Valhalla) recorded two doubles and four RBI. The Red Dragons are now 2-9-1 on the season and the Bombers moved to 8-3-1 overall.

Game One: Oneonta 2, Ithaca 3
Nagel led off the bottom of the first with a triple down the right field line, then crossed home off a wild pitch during junior Delaney Haley's (Levittown/Division Avenue) at-bat. After Nagel scored, Haley hit an infield single and was brought in by a Serena double, giving Oneonta a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third with two runners on and two outs, Ithaca tied it up with a two-RBI triple from Tava Kasper. During the next at-bat, Kasper scored on a passed ball to give the Bombers a 3-2 advantage.  

Down to their final three outs, the Red Dragons got the tying-run on when junior Sara Cartier (Cicero/Cicero-North Syracuse) singled to left field. After Cartier stole second, she advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from senior Adriana Fiori (Newtown, CT/Brookfield). Oneonta got the potential winning run on base when Nagel got hit by a pitch with one out, but the inning ended on back-to-back groundouts.  

Junior Marissa Dionisio (Sayville/Sayville) (0-5) was tagged with the loss after pitching 4.1 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, off four hits and struck out three. Sophomore Angelina Scalere (Ardsley/Ardsley) pitched 2.2 innings, allowed two hits and struck out three.  

Riley Piromalli pitched the complete game for Ithaca, allowed two runs off four hits and struck out nine.  

Game Two: Oneonta 11, Ithaca 11 (6 innings – Darkness)
Ithaca tallied three in the first inning of game two of a couple bases-loaded walks and a single from Cynthia Ehrenfeld, though Oneonta answered back with a nine-run rally in the bottom half of the inning. Identical to the start the Bombers had, the Red Dragons tied the game off an RBI-single from junior Gianna Cancelleri (Naples, FL/Washingtonville (NY)) and two bases-loaded walks from junior Victoria Hussey (Nesconset/Smithtown East) and graduate student Megan Palmatier (Bainbridge/Bainbridge-Guilford). With the bases still loaded, Fiori hit a hard shot back at the pitcher for an infield RBI single. Next up was Nagel who cleared the bases with a triple to right field, extending Oneonta's lead to four. Serena capped off the run with a two-run double to center putting the Red Dragons ahead 9-3.  

Ithaca closed the gap with a four-run second inning. After the Bombers scored a couple runs off a couple of defensive errors, Kailey Collins hit a two-run home run to bring them within two.   

Oneonta gained two runs back in the third inning off a Haley single and a groundout.  

In the fourth, Belle de Oliveira hit an RBI-double to bring Ithaca within three then Jessie Lopez singled to get runners on the corners with two outs. Lopez stole second and with no one covering the base on the throw down, Oliveria was able to score and make it a two-run game.  

Ithaca tied it up in the fifth after Kasper singled up the middle and Madison Casale hit a sacrifice fly.  

The Red Dragons were down to their final out in the sixth inning when Hussey walked and Cancelleri hit an infield single. Despite Hussey and Cancelleri reaching base, Bomber's Bella Scolaro got out of the jam with a popout to shortstop.  

The game was then called due to darkness, resulting in a tie.  

Freshman Anna Torgersen (Chester, NJ/Mendham) pitched 1.0 inning, allowed seven runs, four earned, off five hits. Sophomore Cadence Brennan (Niskayuna/Niskayuna) pitched 4.0 innings, allowed four runs, two earned, off six hits and struck out four. Scalere came in to pitch 1.0 inning and allowed a hit.  

Anna Cornell pitched 1.0 inning for Ithaca, allowed nine runs, two earned, off four hits and struck out two. Scolaro pitched 5.0 innings and allowed two runs off two hits and struck out three.  

The Red Dragons are back in action Sunday for a doubleheader against Skidmore starting at 12 pm at Red Dragon Softball Field.  Read Full Article