Top-Seeded Ithaca Wins Sixth Straight Empire 8 Softball Title
May 7, 2007
From Ithaca Sports Information Release
IITHACA, N.Y. – The top-seeded Ithaca Bombers (33-7) bounced back from a loss to second-seeded St. John Fisher (23-13) to beat the Cardinals 1-0 in the title game to win the Empire 8 Championship Tournament and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. The Bombers’ conference crown is their sixth straight; their NCAA playoff appearance will be their 14th in a row. Pairings, times and sites for the NCAA regionals will be announced Monday morning.
Junior Nicole Cade (Beaverton/Portland, Ore.) threw a complete-game one-hitter in the title game, striking out six and not allowing a batter past first base. She finished the tournament with a 2-0 record, a 0.00 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 18 innings. The Bombers scored the game’s only run in the first; senior outfielder Mel Chinigo (Norwich Free academy/Norwich, Conn.) hit a one-out single to score junior shortstop Erica Cutspec (Fort Plain/Fort Plain).
St. John Fisher opened play by eliminating third-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (14-23) with an 8-0 win in five innings in Saturday’s first game. Junior second baseman Sara Dresser (Medina/Medina) singled, tripled, scored two runs and drove in two more to pace the Cardinal offense. Junior Amanda Shevchuk (Fayetteville-Manlius/Manlius)* threw a one-hitter, facing just one batter over the minimum.
The Cardinals forced the decisive game by holding on for a 4-3 over Ithaca in the second game of the day. St. John Fisher scored three unearned runs in the third inning (sparked by Dresser’s two-run triple), added a run in the fourth and withstood a late Bomber rally.
Ithaca scored once in the bottom of the seventh and nearly tied the game on a two-out single, but junior centerfielder Nicole Watkins (Canastota/Canastota) threw out the tying run at home to end the game.
The loss was Ithaca’s first ever in Empire 8 championship tournament play.