By Rosie Sculco
Dominant pitching and strong bats led the Plattsburgh State softball team (8-21, 5-9) to an outstanding close in the week as they took three out of four games in the two day doubleheader including senior day, a perfect game, and a no-hitter.
“They came together, they competed, they wanted it, and we saw that,” Head Coach Jess Miller said in an interview. “I’m very proud of all of them for that.”
Plattsburgh hosted the Oswego Lakers (10-21, 3-10) earlier than scheduled on April 24 because of upcoming weather conditions.
The second matchup of the week against the Canton Kangaroos (0-23, 0-12) remained as scheduled on April 25.
OSWEGO
The Cards got right after it in the first inning of play in game one of two against the Lakers, scoring three runs in the first inning.
Junior Gwen Noll led the inning off with a double down the left field line and first-year Meghan Stork moved her over to third with a sacrifice bunt.
On the same play, a misplaced throw by Oswego sent Noll to score and Stork reached and moved to second.
First-year Bella Toleman singled and then stole second, and junior Megan Pillus followed with a single up to put the team up 2-0.
Sophomore Emma Deo also followed with a single to score Toleman, but Pillus was thrown out at home to prevent the Cards from going up by more than 3-0.
Senior Carly Gemmett rallied with her team’s offensive power and started the line of defense for her team finishing the day with seven innings, allowing just one run while striking out seven.
A scoreless three innings went by for both teams until the top of the fifth inning when Plattsburgh added on another run of their own.
Stork led off the inning with a single to center fielder and stole second after a popout.
A groundout moved her over to third, and Pillus followed with a double to left field, scoring Stork and extending the lead 4-0.
After an inning, the Lakers attempted a comeback when two balls found the outfield grass, and the next batter was hit to load the bases with no outs.
Gemmett got the next batter to strike out, and then Carlson reached on a fielder’s choice that scored a run, but also got the second out of the inning.
Gemmett forced a pop up to end the game and give the Cards the 4-1 win.
Toleman, Pillus and senior Sarah Milyko recorded two hits and Noll added a hit and a run scored.
“It was good for our team, getting a win and coming all together because we definitely needed to break that streak and we got our hits together on our field,” sophomore Michelle DeFina said in an interview.
Prior to a Laker defeat, the Cardinals lost 10 games straight, last winning against Fredonia (9-15, 6-4) in five innings of play on Apr. 11.
Game two included a better performance for the Lakers leading to their 9-2 victory over the Cards.
Two scoreless innings of play opened up the game until Oswego put a run on the board in the top of the third.
Oswego then scored off an RBI in the top of the fifth to lead 2-0.
In Plattsburgh’s turn of the fifth, Sophomore Sara Issacs was 2-3, scoring two runs while earning the first home run of the season for the Cards on the first pitch to deep left field.
Oswego added one more run in the sixth inning before exploding for six runs on six hits in the top of the seventh to extend their lead 9-1.
With one more chance in the bottom of the seventh, a one-out single from Isaacs was followed by a walk, allowing DeFina to bring home Isaacs to put another run on the board.
However, the next two batters were retired, ending the game and giving Oswego the win 9-2.
Deo, Pillus, and Toleman all had a single hit for the Cards while DeFina added an RBI.
“We were told to take the win and move on with the loss because we did win like we wanted to and we needed to come into these Canton games knowing we wanted two more,” DeFina said.
CANTON
Plattsburgh celebrated three seniors on April 25 in their doubleheader conference matchup against the Canton Kangaroos.
The seniors included pitcher Carly Gemmett, utility Mikayla Manalo and pitcher/infielder Sarah Milyko.
Gemmett is part of the early childhood education program, Manalo is part of the nursing program, and Milyko is in the history program at SUNY Plattsburgh.
“The friendships and the coaching lessons that I’ve been taught throughout softball games,” Milyko said in an interview. “From games to life lessons that I’m gonna need when I’m a teacher in the future, I’m gonna miss everyone, and all the memories so much.”
Miller has been with all three athletes as an assistant coach since they have each been a part of the team.
“I think just believing in yourself and never letting that belief change, no matter what anybody thinks of you,” Miller said. “I think these kids are going to have bright futures and I’m excited to see where they end up, but just a belief and I think that’s the biggest thing for them.”
Game one against the Kangaroos made history for the Plattsburgh softball program.
Gemmett tossed a perfect game, the second in Plattsburgh’s history.
Gemmett joins Hall of Famer Jaclyn (Leitze) Weber, who was perfect in 2006 against Thiel College.
A strong offensive performance to follow as the Cards scored 14 runs on 11 hits in the 14-0 win.
The offense struck as early as the first inning, scoring nine runs on five hits and one error.
Noll stole home to open the scoring, and Pillus concluded the inning with a two-run double to put Plattsburgh up 9-0.
Gemmett struck out eight batters she faced to finish the third inning.
In that same inning, the Card’s added four more runs on four hits to go up 13-0, as Pillus picked up another RBI and DeFina recorded her second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly.
Gemmett struck out two more in the fourth and followed by adding a run in the bottom of that inning.
Junior Meghan Cox picked up her first career hit while first-year Gianna Montes had her first career plate appearance, drawing a bases-loaded walk to earn her first career RBI also.
In the top of the fifth inning, Gemmett left no doubt and struck out the Kangaroos to finish the game
Megan Pillus was 2-2 with a double and three RBIs, and Gwen Noll was 2-3 with three runs scored and three stolen bases.
“All of them knew that we could do this and it was just about getting the opportunities to and I think they came together when they needed to.” Miller said. “To be able to work hard, get the wins, and just believe in each other when we need to, these games are big for us right now.”
History was not only made once, but twice as junior pitcher Morgan Ormerod threw a no-hitter in the second matchup against Canton.
Ormerod became the second Plattsburgh pitcher to do so as Kristina Maggiacomo did the same at Canton back in 2023.
Plattsburgh got the scoring started in game two early as well in the bottom of the second inning as first-year Mikayla Pappas drove in DeFina with an RBI single to left field to lead 1-0.
The Cards recorded six runs on six hits in the fifth inning with DeFina earning a two-run double to left field.
Because of the run-rule, the game-winning run was on second, however, Canton was able to get two outs, ending the inning to guarantee another.
In that next inning, Ormerod went 1-2-3, allowing her team to score one run and get the no-hitter.
A two-base error set them up and another error followed, putting two runners on.
Stork came through for Ormerod, singling in Pappas and ending the game.
Five Cardinals had multi-hit games, with Toleman and DeFina each doing so while also earning a double, a run, and at least one RBI as DeFina drove in two runs.
Pappas was 2-3, driving in a run and scoring twice.
“I think that our energy has been extremely high in the last few days, and we’ve been really motivating each other and pushing each other to do better, not only for ourselves, but for the greater good of the program, and it’s been clearly paying off,” Milyko said.
