Fisher Wins Empire 8 Championship! Thayer Named MVP
ITHACA, N.Y. – Lindsey Thayer was named the Empire 8 Championship's Most Valuable Player as the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team hoisted the Empire 8 crown on Sunday at Cornell's Niemand-Robison Softball Field after defeating the Ithaca College Bombers, 2-1, in a winner-take all game. With the win, Fisher, which is ranked sixth in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, moved to 36-6 on the season and earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
Fans can find out where and who Fisher will play in the Regional round of the NCAA Championship beginning at 1 p.m. on Monday during the
NCAA Selection Show.
With the crown, Fisher has now won five Empire 8 titles overall, however, this is its first championship since 2013 as the Cardinals have fallen in the title game in each of the last two seasons.
ITHACA 2, FISHER 0
After five scoreless innings of play, Ithaca struck first in the top of the sixth and took a 2-0 lead before Fisher could escape the inning. After an out, Ithaca drew a walk followed by a single before blasting a ground-rule double that plated a run. As the inning continued, the Bombers tacked on another run after a wild pitch got caught in the backstop allowing the runners to move up to make it a two-run affair.
Lindsey Thayer suffered the loss in the circle for Fisher and moved to 22-5 overall. She threw all seven innings and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with 15 strikeouts.
Offensively, the Cardinals managed just one hit against Ithaca's ace with
Julia Sortisio coming away with the team's lone single.
Ashley Prince drew three walks in the loss.
FISHER 2, ITHACA 1
The Bombers opened up an early lead in the night cap with an unearned run in the bottom of the first after Fisher threw what would have been a sacrifice bunt into right field. With one run already in and a runner at third base, Thayer stopped the bleeding with three strikeouts to keep the Cardinals within one run heading into the top of the second.
In the fourth inning, Fisher finally broke through with a run to knot things up at one run apiece. Senior catcher
Karlie Neale led off with a single to left and moved to second when
Genevieve Paeglow bunted her into scoring position. After the Bombers notched a fly out,
Emma Savas singled while
Alyssa Piparo, who had ran for Neale, moved to third base. With runners on the corners and two away,
Kristina Balsano came up with an RBI-single through the left side to even the score at one run apiece.
In the home half of the fifth, Thayer came through in a big way after pitching around a Cardinals' error. Ithaca had runners at second and third with no outs, but the junior notched three straight swinging strikeouts to end the threat and keep the game tied.
Fisher took its first lead of the game in the top of the seventh on the strength of one hit. Savas led off the frame with a four-pitch walk and took second base on a wild pitch. Balsano moved her to third base with a fly ball to right field before
Katie Mazierski legged out an infield single to plate the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ithaca went to its bench, but Thayer notched two more strikeouts including the final out to seal the win.
With the decision, Thayer improved to 23-5 on the season and pitched all 14 innings on the day. The Winthrop native allowed just one run on four hits and tallied 13 strikeouts in the game against just one walk.