Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – The #2 Ithaca College softball team scored nine runs through the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and went on to defeat #3 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 10-1, in the NCAA Regionals at Kostrinsky Field. With the victory, the Bombers improve to 37-4 and advance to play top-seeded Plattsburgh St. on Saturday at 10am. The Red Hawks fall to 35-5 and will play #4 Union on Saturday at 12pm, that game will be broadcast live on the internet at http://www.teamline.cc/sportpages.html?teamcode=1160&eventcode=0049.  

Ithaca got on the board in the top of the second inning on a line drive from senior Stacey Bartels (Vancouver, WA/Skyview) with two runners on. Bartels’s hit down the left field line scored junior Mel Chinigo (Norwich, CT/Norwich Free Academy) from second base.

Rensselaer tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from junior Katherine Valenta (La Grange, IL/ Lyons Township). After a leadoff double from freshman Julianne Bass (Costa Mesa, CA/Newport Harbor), her 13th of the season, sophomore Beth Gargon (East Hampton, CT/East Hampton) reached on an error, setting up Valenta’s hit, a line drive past the shortstop that drove Bass home.

The Bombers, who were the away team, broke the game open in the top of the fourth inning, scoring four runs on three hits for a 5-1 lead. With runners on first and third, Rensselaer pulled freshman starter Michelle Street (East Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa), who allowed two runs, both earned, on four hits through 3.1 innings pitched, for senior Amy Huling (Vienna, VA/Holton-Arms).

Ithaca kept the rally going when junior Hannah Shallett (Bridgewater, CT/Shepaug Valley) put down a suicide squeeze, scoring classmate Jenn Marro (Delmar, NY/Bethlehem) from third. The Bombers rounded out the scoring on a two-run triple from Erica Cutspec (Fort Plain, NY/Fort Plain), who later came home on a passed ball for the 5-1 lead.

The Bombers added three runs in the top of the fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run single from Kaitlyn Dulac (East Greenwich, RI/Bay View), for an 8-1 lead and they scored twice in the sixth for the 10-1 win.

Sophomore Nicole Cade (Portland, OR/Beaverton) earned the victory for the Bombers to improve to 19-2, she allowed three hits and one run with seven strikeouts and two walks.

The game between Rensselaer and Union will be broadcast live on the internet at http://www.teamline.cc/sportpages.html?teamcode=1160&eventcode=0049, beginning at 12pm.