Softball | 5/13/2021 5:13:13 PM
No. 3 seed Alfred University (30-8) and top-seed St. John Fisher College (27-4) will meet in the championship round of the 2021 Empire 8 Softball Tournament after advancing on Thursday, May 13. The Saxons defeated St. John Fisher, 6-0 in the opening game on Thursday before the Cardinals stayed alive after earning a 13-5 win in six innings over No. 2 seed Russell Sage (17-6) in the second elimination game. Russell Sage was eliminated from tournament play after suffering their second loss.
St. John Fisher and Alfred will meet in the game six of the tournament at noon on Saturday, May 15. Alfred, who is unbeaten in the tournament, would claim the Empire 8 Championship with a win in game six. If St. John Fisher wins game six, that would set up a winner-take-all game seven, which would be played at 2:30 p.m.
GAME 5 - NO. 3 ALFRED 6, NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 0
A five-run first inning propelled the Alfred University softball team as it roared to the Empire 8 Tournament championship round after a 6-0 victory over No. 14 St. John Fisher College on Thursday afternoon.
Eight Saxons tallied the team's nine hits in the victory. Junior infielder
Tatiana Mejia led the way with a 2-for-2 performance, walking once and scoring a run. First year infielder
Mya Wells, junior infielder
Allison O'Toole, senior outfielder
Sydney Saucedo, and graduate pitcher
Jessica Wilcox each drove in a first inning run. Graduate infielder
Elena Ceja made her only hit count, hitting her second home run of the tournament and fourth of the season in the fifth inning.
The runs were more than enough for Wilcox who twirled a complete-game shutout, scattering seven hits in seven innings with 10 strikeouts for her 17th victory of the season. The 17 wins moves her into a third-place tie for most season wins in program history. Wilcox won 17 games in 2019 and
Kerri Keeler '17 also did so, in the 2015 season.
After Wilcox set the Fisher lineup in order in the first, junior infielder
Ashley Lugo and Junior outfielder
Alyssa Guitron
led the Saxon end of things with singles. Mejia was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Wells. The rookie came through with an RBI single past the diving shortstop, scoring Lugo to open the scoring. O'Toole came up and tallied an RBI single of her own up the middle, doubling the lead. A wild pitch brought Mejia home and Saucedo and Wilcox added RBIs of their own, as the Saxons raced out to a 5-0 lead.
Fisher starter Jess Patterson settled down and kept the Saxons off the board for the next three frames, but Wilcox kept serve. Ceja led off the fifth with a shot over the center field wall for the solo home run, her team-leading fourth of the season, second of the Empire 8 Tournament, and ninth of her career.
From there, Wilcox shut the door on any chance at a Fisher comeback, allowing just two singles but struck out two batters in the final two innings, as Emily Trotman's fly out to Mejia at third base ended the game.
GAME 5 - NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 13, NO. 2 RUSSELL SAGE 5 (6 INNINGS)
Facing elimination, the Cardinals responded and needed just six innings to end Russell Sage's season with a 13-5 victory.
After falling behind in the first inning, Fisher plated two runs on three hits including RBI knocks from Torlish and
Allie Klonowski to reclaim the advantage, 2-1, heading to the second.
After stranding a runner in scoring position in the top of the second, Sage was unable to get off the field in the bottom of the frame as Fisher pushed three more runs across the plate with the
Allison Rogowski leading off with a solo home run before Trotman, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year on Wednesday, followed suit with a two-run blast of her own to make it 5-1 in Fisher's favor.
Trailing by four runs in the third, the Gators climbed back into contention with three runs on four hits and pulled to within one, but head coach
Bari Mance's squad afforded itself some breathing room when Klidonas drove in a run with a single to left to make it 6-4.
After exchanging zeroes over the next two innings, Sage cut the deficit in half and scored a run in the top of the sixth, but the Cardinals' bats proved to be too much in the home half of the inning as Fisher notched seven runs on seven hits to earn the eight-run win.
Maria Marcera got the inning going after drawing a leadoff walk before Torlish obliterated a two-run shot to make it 8-5. The Gators would hit
Megan Kreger before coming up with an out, but Evans kept the rally going with a single to left. With two on and one away, Rogowski singled to load the bases for Smith who sent two runners home with a hard-hit single to left to make it 10-5. With four runs already in, Fisher added to its lead as Marcera delivered a two-run single before Torlish stepped in and hit a walk-off single deep to left to plate the winning run.
Trotman toed the rubber for Fisher and moved to 13-2 on the year after allowing 12 hits and five runs (four earned) over six innings of work. The East Amherst native finished with four strikeouts.
This is the fifth appearance in the Empire 8 championship round for the Saxons, who also reached the finals in 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2019 campaigns. The Saxons need just one victory to earn the program's second Empire 8 Championship and first since 2015. The Cardinals of St. John Fisher are attempting to win their fourth straight Empire 8 Tournament Championship and eighth overall
2021 Empire 8 Softball Championship Schedule
Empire 8 First Round – Saturday, May 8
#3 Alfred University defeats #6 Elmira College, 2-0 - STATS
#5 Utica College defeats #4 Keuka College, 9-1 (5 innings) - STATS
Empire 8 Double Elimination Championship (Hosted by St. John Fisher College)
Tuesday, May 11
Game 1 – #1 St. John Fisher College defeats #5 Utica College, 5-0 - STATS
Game 2 – #3 Alfred University defeats #2 Russell Sage College, 10-0 (5 innings) - STATS
Game 3 – #2 Russell Sage College defeats #5 Utica College (elimination game), 6-4 - STATS
Thursday, May 13
Game 4 – #3 Alfred University defeats #1 St. John Fisher College, 6-0 - STATS
Game 5 – #1 St. John Fisher College defeats #2 Russell Sage College (elimination game), 13-5 - STATS
Saturday, May 15
Game 6 – #3 Alfred University vs. #1 St. John Fisher College - Championship Game 1 – possible champion to be crowned - 12 p.m. - VIDEO - STATS
Game 7 – #3 Alfred University vs. #1 St. John Fisher College - Championship Game 2 (if necessary) - 2:30 p.m. - VIDEO - STATS