Fisher Scores Twice in 12th Inning to Beat Elmira

5/3/2013 12:57:01 PM

The 2013 Empire 8 Championship opened with a marathon of a game. It took 12 innings to decide, but St. John Fisher sophomore Meghan Burns' solo shot in the top of the final inning proved to be the difference in a 2-0 victory over second-seeded Elmira College.
 
The twelve innings set a new E8 tournament record for longest game. The previous was 11 innings between Ithaca and Alfred in 2009.

Fisher added an insurance run with two outs after Danielle Leone singles to center field, scoring pinch runner Christina Sakran from second base. Sakran came in to run for Leanne Merchant who reached on a throwing error. 

It was a scoreless game up until that inning, with the Cardinal defense coming up with some big plays to thwart off Elmira scoring opportunities.  In the fifth inning, the Soaring Eagles led off with a triple from Ashley Plamer before trying to suicide squeeze the run in.  However, Fisher's defense was ready for the play and put together a 5-2-6-3-1 rundown to keep the game at 0-0.

A nearly identical situation came up in the seventh, with Palmer again leading off with a triple to right field.  The next batter walked to put runners on the corners with no outs.  After the first out, Palmer tried to score the walk-off run on a grounder but Sarah Fordyce picked up the ball and fired to Merchant, creating another rundown situation.  Merchant had to reach for the throw and, not only did her stretch keep the winning run off the board, it took the scoring threat away when she threw to Kayla Goodberlet for the tag out.

Fisher pitcher Sarah Stefanon and Elmira's Alex Puglisi battled it out in the circle all game. Stefanon earned the win as the Cardinals extend their win streak to 13 games. Stefanon allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out 12 batters.  Puglisi took the loss allowing six hits and one walk and struck out seven batters.