Box Score
ITHACA, NY – Host and top-seeded Ithaca defeated Alfred University, 8-0 in five innings, Sunday afternoon to claim the Empire 8 Conference softball championship tournament title.
 
With the win, Ithaca earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III championship tournament, which begins with regional play on Thursday. Alfred (27-10), the conference tournament's third seed, will wait to see if it will earn an at-large bid to the national tournament; the NCAA will announce its tournament bids and regional schedule on Monday.
 
Half of Ithaca's runs were unearned as the Bombers benefited from three AU errors. After two scoreless innings, Ithaca scored three runs (one unearned) in the top of the third on three hits, a walk and an error. The Bombers plated five more runs (three unearned) in the fifth on four hits, a hit batter and a pair of errors.
 
For the game, Ithaca had eight hits to Alfred's six, as AU left eight runners on base. Sophomore outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) and freshman third baseman Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) each had two hits for the Saxons, while sophomore Nora Passuite (Lockport, NY/Lockport) (double) and junior outfielder Alyson Hampton (Oxnard, CA/Oxnard) each had one.
 
Sophomore Katelyn Jakobsen (Elmwood Park, IL/Elmwood Park) got the pitching start for AU, a day after shutting out the Bombers on three hits in a 1-0 Saxon win. She allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits with two strikeouts before departing in the third with the bases loaded and no outs. Junior Tori Kramp (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury) relieved and went 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on three hits. Freshman Sophia Chiavatti (Austin, CA/Foothills) got the final out of the fifth after allowing an unearned run on two hits.

Jauregui, Thompson, and junior pitcher-first baseman Alison Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) were all named to the all-tournament team for AU.
 
The NCAA DIvision III Softball Committee will announce its selections and first round sites on Monday at 10 a.m. This year, the committee is using a new format of four-team pods rather than the previous groupings of either six or eight teams. The 'pod' winners will advance to Super Regionals (patterned after the Division I tournament) the following week.