Thayer Throws No-Hitter to Force Winner-Take-All Game as Fisher Comes up Short in NCAA Super Regional
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Senior pitcher
Lindsey Thayer of the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team threw her fourth no-hitter of the season on Saturday at The Softball Complex to force a winner-take-all game in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship Super Regional, but the Cardinals came up short as the No. 21 Ithaca College Bombers earned a 7-4 win in the deciding game to clinch the Super Regional Championship. With the loss, Fisher, which is ranked sixth in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, had its season come to an end with a 35-10 overall record while Ithaca, which is now one of eight teams remaining, will advance to next week's Division III Championship in Oklahoma City, Okla.
FISHER 4, ITHACA 0
Thayer was nearly perfect in the opening game as the Winthrop native allowed a single walk en route to her 25th win of the season. Thayer did not allow a hit over seven innings and recorded eight strikeouts in all.
Julia Sortisio got the offensive going in the top of the first as the junior led off with an infield single before scoring on a base hit to the gap by
Emily Trotman to give the Cardinals an early one-run lead.
Fisher struck again in the top of the fourth as
Katie Mazierski smacked a seeing-eye single up the middle that scored
Sarah Kubik who had singled through the left side of the infield to begin the inning.
Holding a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth, Kubik padded Fisher's advantage with a solo shot to center field to make it 3-0 before the Cardinals tacked on a run in the top of the seventh. After a pop out to start the frame, Mazierski lifted a triple to center field and became the program's all-time leader in hits in the process after recording her 224th career hit to pass Hall-of-Famer Jen Wilder's mark of 223. Mazierski wouldn't be at third for long, however, as
Ashley Prince drove her in with a sacrifice fly to left to lift Fisher to the 4-0 lead.
Mazierski was 2-for-4 in the win while Kubik had two hits in three at-bats to go along with two runs scored and an RBI. Trotman was 1-for-4 with an RBI and Sortisio had one hit overall to go along with a walk.
ITHACA 7, FISHER 4
After a scoreless first inning of play, it would be Ithaca that got on the board first after the Bombers plated a pair of runs on two hits in the top of the second with the big blow coming in the form of a two-out, two-run single.
Fisher cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third when a throwing error by the Bombers allowed Prince to move from first to third with two outs. Trotman reached on a fielder's choice while
Sammie Torlish beat the throw to second to keep the inning alive as Prince scurried home.
In the top of the fourth, Ithaca once again came away with a big two-out hit as the Bombers belted a two-run shot to left to head into the home half of the frame with a 4-1 lead.
Trailing by three, the Cardinals responded with three runs of their own on five hits to tie the game up at four runs apiece.
Emma Savas singled through the left side and moved to second when Sortisio grounded one up the middle. With two on and one out, Mazierski extended her program record with a single to center before Prince doubled in a pair with a shot off the outfield fencing to make it 4-3. With two runners in scoring position, Torlish followed suit with a double of her own as Mazierski scored, but Ithaca would limit the damage to three runs as the Bombers got the next two hitters with a groundout and a strikeout to retire the side.
With the game knotted at four in the top of the sixth, Ithaca scored what turned out to be the game-winning run with back-to-back doubles before lifting a two-run shot to center in the top of the seventh.
The Cardinals still showed fight in the bottom of the seventh and would load the bases before a diving catch by the Bombers' second baseman ended the threat and the game.
Thayer was tagged with the loss and concluded her year with a 25-6 overall record. In all, she totaled nine strikeouts and pitched her 26th complete game of the year.
Thayer, who will undoubtedly go down as one of the best to ever pitch in the Division III ranks, closed out her career holding every pitching record in program history. The right-hander rewrote the NCAA Division III record book as well after breaking the all-time mark for career strikeouts earlier this month. For her career, the three-time All-American posted a 107-29 record in the circle and had 1,540 career strikeouts to her name. She tallied 115 career complete games, 64 shutouts and pitched to a sub-one earned run average over 889.1 innings of work. This season alone, Thayer had four no-hitters including two perfect games.
Fisher had 11 hits at the plate in the deciding game led by Prince who was 2-for-2 with a double, two RBI and a pair of walks.
Mary Claire Grosvenor had two hits in four at-bats while Mazierski was 2-for-5 overall.
Head coach
Bari Mance will also miss having Mazierski's bat in the lineup as the All-American produced 226 career hits and will conclude her career tied with Hall-of-Famer Danielle Guccia with a program-best .417 batting average.
Additionally,
Emma Savas (.365 avg., 106 hits, 50 RBI) and
Monica Moses (24-4, 2.38 ERA) will also graduate after having been a part of 148 wins over their time in a Fisher uniform.
The Cardinals, who made their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Super Regional Round in 2018, closed out the season with 35 wins, which marked the third straight year Fisher has reached at least 35 victories and the fifth time in team history. In all, 11 players were named All-Conference by the Empire 8 while six more went on to be named All-Region by the NFCA.