DELHI, N.Y. — The SUNY Delhi softball team swept a North Atlantic Conference home doubleheader against SUNY Cobleskill on Saturday, winning game one 5-3 before staging a dramatic comeback in game two, walking off with a 7-6 victory in eight innings.
Game One: SUNY Delhi 5, SUNY Cobleskill 3
Alethea Ferrara turned in a strong complete game effort for Delhi, allowing just three hits and two earned runs over seven innings while striking out four. Grace Sperry set the tone early, tripling to right field in the first inning and scoring on a groundout by Stephanie Huckabee to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead.
Cobleskill answered in the third with a two-run double from Sam Lawton to take a 2-1 lead, but Angelina Dickel erased the deficit immediately, leading off the bottom of the third with a solo home run. Delhi retook the lead in the fourth when Adrienne Neff singled and eventually scored on an RBI single from Dickel. The Broncos broke the game open in the fifth, as Huckabee doubled and scored on an RBI single from Carly Bernard, followed by a second run coming home when Bernard scored on a Natalie Amadon bunt and an error. Cobleskill added an unearned run in the seventh but couldn't complete the comeback. Dickel finished 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI, while Neff went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Game Two: SUNY Delhi 7, SUNY Cobleskill 6 (8 innings)
Game two was anything but straightforward, but Delhi found a way when it mattered most. Cobleskill struck first with a two-run home run from Lawton in the first and added another on a wild pitch in the second to take a 3-0 lead. The Broncos answered emphatically in the bottom of the second — Huckabee delivered a bases-clearing triple to right center to tie the game at three, and Bernard followed with an RBI single to put Delhi in front 4-3.
The Fighting Tigers tied it again in the fourth on an RBI single from Mackenzie Carver, but Delhi reclaimed the lead immediately on another RBI single from Bernard, and Dickel scored on a caught stealing play in the sixth to push the margin to 6-4. Cobleskill refused to quit, as Lawton singled down the left field line to plate two in the seventh and tie the game at six. Delhi answered in the eighth when Dickel reached third on a pair of errors and scored the winning run on a walk-off RBI single through the right side by Bernard, completing the comeback.
Bernard was the story of game two, finishing 4-for-5 with three RBI and the game-winning hit. Huckabee went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBI, and Dickel scored three times on a 3-for-4 afternoon. Mikayla Wright started on the mound and pitched 6.1 innings before Dickel came on in relief to earn the win.
Delhi moves to 3-10 on the season, 2-0 in conference play, and will look to build on the sweep Tuesday with a home doubleheader against Potsdam, with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.
