By Jessica Landman
The Plattsburgh softball team had a sunny start to their SUNYAC tournament on Saturday where they faced the SUNY Geneseo Knights. The team had previously faced Geneseo and lost both the games so the Cardinals were looking for a comeback. They, however, did not reach the victory they were aiming for, losing the game 3-4. Junior, Kristina Maggiacomo said, “I guess something that I was hoping to see in our game were some more hits and just a lot of energy from the team.”
The Cardinals started out on a low note, hitting at the top of the first inning. The Geneseo pitcher pitched three outs, without so much as a hit by Plattsburgh. The bottom of the first inning went much better for the Knights. Their first hitter struck out but the second hitter singled. After a fly ball from the next hitter, the first hitter advanced onto second base. The Knights ended the inning with one run and two left on the base.
The second inning did not pick up for the Cardinals as all three hitters did not advance to a base again. Geneseo, on the other hand, scored their remaining points in this inning. The fourth hitter in line grounded out as one of her teammates advanced to third and another made it to the home plate, scoring yet another for the Knights. The next hitter reached first base off of a fielding error, also allowing two more Geneseo players to score. The scoreboard at the end of the second favored Geneseo with a score of 0-4 The third inning began to look up for the Cardinals as Mikayla Manalo singled as the first hitter and advanced to second base as her teammate got out after hitting to first base. Alexa Murray doubled as Claire Palmer crossed home base. Murray scored a point of her own as Kristen Langdon singled. The top of the third ended with two runs from Plattsburgh. In the bottom of the third, Geneseo had one hit allowing one player to advance to second, but the team reached all three outs before she was able to score a point leaving their score at four.
The fourth inning was uneventful for both teams. Plattsburgh’s first three hitters did not advance to any bases and ended the top of the inning without scoring or any hits. The Knights did better with one hit but no runs. One hitter advanced to first but did not go any farther leaving the score at 2-4 with Plattsburgh still trailing.
The top of the fifth inning was similar to the fourth inning with no runs and no hits for either team. Two Plattsburgh players grounded out and the third flied out to left field. Geneseo’s first hitter grounded out as the second two struck out effectively ending the fifth inning with no change in score.
The sixth inning held more action from both sides as Plattsburgh started off with a single from Langdon. Rebecca Diller singled as well with Langdon advancing to second. However, Sam Gentile struck out ending the top of the fifth. Geneseo also had luck while hitting, getting to first from a field error. The final out was earned by Plattsburgh from catching the Geneseo runner stealing second base. The sixth ended with Geneseo still in the lead with a score of 2-4.
The top of the seventh inning looked bright for the Cardinals as Alex McKearin made it to first base. On the next hit, Palmer singled and McKearin advanced to second. On Langdon’s hit, she singled allowing Palmer to advance to second and McKearin crossed home bringing Plattsburgh their final run of the game.
Losing this game meant they were eliminated from the SUNYAC tournament making this their final game of the season. Diller said, “ I think honestly we can only go up from here because a lot of us will still be around next year and this was our first full season back together.” The team ended with an overall record of 14-19 and a conference record of 9-9.
