Cortland Defeats UNE, 1-0, to Stay Alive at NCAA Regional
AMHERST, MASS. – Seniors Lyndsay Rowell (Sandy Creek) and Morgan Kuhn (Wayland/Wayland-Cohocton) combined on a three-hit shutout as the nationally 14th-ranked Cortland softball team stayed alive in NCAA regional play with a 1-0 victory over The University of New England (Maine).
The Red Dragons improved to 40-9 and reached the 40-win mark for the fourth straight year. Cortland will face host Amherst College Sunday at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. Cortland needs to win three games Sunday and one Monday to win the regional title and advance to the Div. III World Series.
Kelly Reid allowed eight hits, two walks and one run and struck out five in seven innings for UNE, which finishes the season with a 27-14 record.
Rowell earned the victory to improve to 18-5 on the season. She gave up three hits and no walks and struck out six in five innings. Kuhn retired all six batters she faced, three by strikeout, to earn her ninth save of the season.
Cortland scored the game’s lone run in the top of the fifth. Senior Jessica Harman (Penfield) reached on an infield single and alertly advanced to second base when UNE vacated the base. She moved to third on senior Abby Martin’s (Oswego) single to left and scored on sophomore Meaghan Kohler’s (Franklin, NJ/Warren Hills Regional) sacrifice fly to right.
UNE had only one runner reach scoring position when Allie Frazier reached on an error to start the bottom of the sixth. After Kuhn relieved Rowell, Frazier stole second, but she was stranded there as the next three batters popped out, struck out and flied out.
Junior Cassie Kardias (Shrub Oak/Lakeland) finished 2-for-3 and junior Lucia Meola (Liverpool/Cicero-North Syracuse) was 2-for-4 to account for half of Cortland’s eight hits. Kohler walked twice and Harman finished 1-for-2 with two sacrifice bunts.
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