CORTLAND, N.Y. -- The Oneonta softball team won two elimination games against New Paltz and Buffalo St. on day two of the SUNYAC Softball Tournament, Saturday afternoon, and punched their ticket into the conference championship on Sunday. The Red Dragons built an early five-run lead as they eliminated the Hawks in their first game, 6-3, then they erased a three-run deficit to beat the Bengals 7-6. Â
Oneonta advanced to their first SUNYAC Championship since 2017 and will face Cortland on Sunday, May 11, for a chance to win the program's fifth conference championship, the first since 2014. Since the tournament is a double elimination format, Oneonta will need to beat Cortland twice. Game one starts at 11 am with game two to follow shortly after if needed.
Sophomore
Emily Brown (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke) took control of the circle for the Red Dragons and picked up both wins to improve to 11-7 this season and the team to 20-18 overall. She pitched 12.0 innings total, including a complete game in game one, and recorded 15 strikeouts on the day.
It was an all-round team performance at the plate as they totaled 23 hits between both games and had seven players record an RBI. Seniors
Sophia Mangone (Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley),
Julia Serena (White Plains, N.Y./Valhalla), junior
Jaime Cardello (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas), and sophomore
Ava Thys (Fairfax, Va./James W. Robinson Secondary (Va.)) all finished with four hits on the day. Mangone hit the game-winning runs in for both games and ended with three RBI, while Serena had three RBI all in game one. Cardello and Thys both recorded an RBI in their multi-hit outings.
In their game two win against Buffalo State, Serena continued to put her name at the top of program record books as she tied the all-time hit record of 197 set by Beth Oppenheimer '03.
Oneonta 6, New Paltz 3
Oneonta got on the board when Serena hit a single up the middle that scored Thys in the opening inning. Mangone crossed home on a grounder, then Serena capitalized on a New Paltz error and scored on a dropped fly ball for a 3-0 lead.
The Red Dragons extended their lead to five in the top of the second with back-to-back RBI doubles from Mangone and Serena, however the Hawks recorded three runs in the bottom half of the inning off a solo home run and a two-run single to make it 5-3.
Mangone scored the last run for Oneonta in the top of the fourth after Serena connected for a double to center field. New Paltz had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Brown got out of the jam when she caught a line drive that came back to her.
Brown finished the complete game with eight strikeouts and allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits. Sydney Waldon (10-10) was tagged with the loss after pitching 5.0 innings, striking out five, and allowing six runs, three earned, on eight hits.
Serena finished game one 3-for-3 with three RBI while Mangone went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Freshman
Tatum Passonno (Latham, N.Y./Shaker) and Cardello both finished 2-for-4.
Oneonta 7, Buffalo St. 6
Buffalo St took a three-run lead in the bottom of the second, before Oneonta used four innings to put together seven unanswered runs for a 7-3 edge in the top of the sixth.
Thys started the run when she laid down a bunt in the third with runners on the corners and scored freshman
Sophia Camacho (Newburgh, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes). In the following inning, freshman
Kayla Kean (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Shenendehowa) crossed home on a Bengals fielding error, then junior
Abigail Silliman (Rensselaer, N.Y./Columbia) smacked a single to right field and scored Passonno to tie the game.
The Red Dragons gained the lead in the top of the fifth when Cardello shot an RBI single into center field that brought in freshman
Riley McDonnell (Melville, N.Y./Walt Whitman). McDonnell pinch ran for Serena, who recorded her program-tying career hit earlier in the inning with a single through the left side.
In the top of the sixth, Kean scorched a missile into Cortland's scoreboard for a solo home run, her third of the season, then Mangone ripped a two-run single later in the inning for the 7-3 lead.
The Bengals used a pair of singles to score three runs and cut the lead to one in the bottom of the sixth. Buffalo State had the tying run on second base, but freshman
Tanner Smith (White Plains, N.Y./Vahalla) came into the game and forced a foul fly out to Mangone at first to end the inning.
Down to the final out of the game, Smith forced another pop up that bounced out of her glove and into Serena's for the victory.
Brown pitched 5.0 innings, struck out seven, and allowed five runs on four hits. Smith (1) picked up her first career save as a Red Dragon with 1.1 hitless innings. Madison Lucas (6-7) received the loss for Buffalo State after pitching 5.0 innings, striking out two, and allowing four runs, two earned, on nine hits.
Thys finished game two 3-for-4 with an RBI and Serena was 1-for-4 with two RBI. Silliman went 2-for-2 with an RBI, while Cardello and Kean each went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
