Bangor, ME - Cazenovia College eliminated Northern Vermont University-Lyndon from the North Atlantic Conference Championship Tournament on Saturday. The Wildcats took advantage of a pair of Hornet errors to plate six runs in the bottom of the third inning, and went on to pick up an 8-2 victory over the Hornets. Cazenovia, now 17-10 on the season, stays alive in the double elimination tournament, and will face Thomas College in another elimination game later Saturday afternoon.
In the early going it looked like the game would be a pitcher's duel between Lyndon's Victoria Valentine (Lyndon, VT) and Cazenovia's Serafina French. Both pitchers were able to keep their opposition off the scoreboard through the first two and a half innings.
With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Cazenovia's Sarah Penney tripled to center field. Caila Benning followed with an RBI single, driving in Penney with the first run of the game. Naomi Kubo walked, then Caitlin Kelleher grounded into a fielder's choice. Madison Cieslak then reached on a Hornet error, keeping the Wildcat inning alive. Kubo scored on the play for Cazenovia's second run. After Olivia Simone walked to load the bases, French reached on the second Hornet error of the inning, as Kelleher came home. Cieslak scored on a wild pitch, then Morgan Marl delivered a two-run double to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead.
The Hornets got on the board in the top of the fifth inning. Riann Fortin (Derby, VT) got things started with a one-out double. Lauren Siciliano (Lynbrook, NY) followed with a base hit, putting runners at the corners. Siciliano was then caught stealing, but Fortin was able to come home on the play with the first Hornet run of the game.
Cazenovia got the run back in the bottom of the fifth. Pinch hitter Tatum Green reached on an error and later scored on Alexia Clemons' base hit.
The Wildcats added another insurance run in the top of the sixth inning. Following back to back walks to Kubo and Kelleher, Cieslak lofted a pop up to shallow center field that dropped and turned into a fielder's choice. Kubo came all the way around to score on the play.
Down to their final three outs, the Hornets attempted to rally. With one out, Valentine reached on an error and Fortin followed with her third hit of the game. Samantha Valentine (Lyndon, VT) then singled back up the middle, scoring her sister and keeping the Hornets alive. Amber Everett (Morrisville, VT) walked to load the bases, but French got Seairra Anderson (Somersworth, NH) to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.
The Hornets conclude the season with 17 wins, the most by a Hornet team as an NCAA program. The team also qualified for the NAC Tournament for the first time since 2014. With Samantha Valentine being the only graduating senior, the Hornets expect that the remainder of the roster will return to form the core of the 2023 team.
