The No. 3 seeded St. John Fisher College Cardinals went 2-0 on day one of play at the Empire 8 Championships, hosted by Ithaca College, securing a spot in tomorrow's championship game. Head coach Len Maiorani earned his 600th career win in game two against Ithaca.
Game one: Fisher 6, RIT 3
The Cardinals never trailed in game one of the day, as they defeated RIT. Fisher got on the board with two runs in the top of the first, with Jennifer Vanek singling and eventually being scored off a single from Megan Zoerb, while a walk from Leanne Merchant would score Zoerb later in the inning.
RIT put a run on the board to halve the lead off a solo home run by Brittany Griffin, but the Cardinals added two more runs in the next up after Sarah Fordyce doubled to the fence to score Carissa Carlson and Jamie Harmon.
RIT would tack on another run in the bottom of the fifth, but again, Fisher added two more runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by another double from the sophomore Fordyce.
The Tigers scored yet another run in the bottom of the inning and put two runners on base, but Fisher was able to work it out.
Sarah Stefanon earned the win from the mound for the Cardinals, fanning four batters and allowing five hits in as many innings pitched. Danielle Leone earned her first career save, allowing no earned runs and scattering three hits over two innings.
Game two: Fisher 2, Ithaca 0
No. 3 Fisher knocked off No.1 Ithaca in game two of the day, marking Maiorani's 600th career win.
The game went scoreless for the first three and a half innings before Fisher got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Carlson and Fordyce each reached on singles, while Carlson was scored by Merchant.
The Cardinals would continue to fend off the Bombers defensively and tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth, after Harmon singled to center field to score Vanek, who reached on a single to second base. The rest of the game remained scoreless.
Stefanon earned her second win of the day, scattering four hits and fanning as many batters over seven innings from the mound.
For the day, Fordyce went a team-best 6-for-6 from the plate with two doubles and three RBI, all in game one. Harmon went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, one RBI, and two walks. Stefanon improved to 12-3 on the season, while Leone earned her first career save.
The Cardinals will face the winner of tomorrow morning's Ithaca/RIT winner at 1 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament.