BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Oneonta softball team fell in a SUNYAC doubleheader on the road against Buffalo St., Friday afternoon. Oneonta dropped game one, 6-1, then they came up short in game two, 7-5. Senior
Julia Serena (White Plains, N.Y./Valhalla) hammered her SUNYAC leading eighth home run of the season and finished the day 3-for-7 with an RBI and scored three runs. The Red Dragons moved to 17-17 on the season and 10-6 in the SUNYAC while the Bengals improved to 19-15 overall and 13-3 in conference play.
Game One: Oneonta 1, Buffalo St. 6
Buffalo St took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off a two-run home run by Erin Paolilli.
The Red Dragons scored a run in the top of the fifth inning when junior
Jaime Cardello (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) hit a sacrifice fly and scored sophomore
Maya Nelsen (South Salem, N.Y./John Jay Cross River), however the Bengals answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning for the 6-1 final. Izzy Pezdek hit a three-run home run then Deme Kellogg scored on a grounder.
Senior
Sophia Mangone (Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley) and freshman
Kayla Kean (Ballston Lake, N.Y./Shenendehowa) each went 1-for-2 and worked a walk.
Freshman
Tanner Smith (White Plains, N.Y./Vahalla) (7-4) was tagged with the loss after pitching 4.1 innings, striking out three, and allowing four runs on six hits. Senior
Cadence Brennan (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) pitched 1.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits.
Game Two: Oneonta 5, Buffalo St. 7
Serena blasted her 27th career home run in the first inning of game two. Paolilli put Buffalo State up with a three-run double in the second, then Kellogg hit an RBI double to go up 4-1 in the third.
Serena led off the fourth inning with a walk and was later scored by Kean's single to right field, however the Bengals got the run back in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Red Dragons got a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning to make it a 5-4 deficit. After Serena hit a double to left field and sophomore
Emily Brown (Westbury, N.Y./Clarke) smacked a single to left, Serena crossed home on a passed ball while Brown moved to second. Later in the inning, junior
Abigail Silliman (Rensselaer, N.Y./Columbia) worked a bases loaded walk to score Brown.
The Bengals regained the three-run lead in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back RBI singles from Pezdek and Kellogg.
Mangone led the seventh inning off with a single and pulled Oneonta within two with two outs on an error by the left fielder, but Buffalo State closed out the game on the next at-bat.
Serena finished game two 2-for-3 with a home run and a double. Cardello and Kean each recorded an RBI.
Brown (8-7) received the loss after pitching 4.0 innings, striking out four and allowing five runs on eight hits. Senior
Angelina Scalere (Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley) pitched 2.0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits.
Oneonta wraps up the regular season on Saturday, April 3, at Fredonia for a SUNYAC doubleheader starting at 12 pm. The Red Dragons and Blue Devils are lined up to play each other in the SUNYAC tournament starting Thursday, May 8. The twin bill will determine who the four and five seeds are in the single elimination first round contest.
