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ITHACA, NY – Top-seeded Ithaca College rallied for a 3-2 victory over Alfred University Friday afternoon in an opening-round game of the Empire 8 Conference softball championship tournament.
 
Down by a run, Alfred (28-11) scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 2-1 lead over the 16^th-ranked Bombers, the tournament's top seed and host team. Ithaca (30-7) answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to pull out the win.
 
Alfred will now face third-seeded Utica in an elimination game at 2 p.m., while Ithaca will take on second-seeded St. John Fisher.  Utica lost to Fisher, 7-2, in the tournament opener. The double-elimination tournament will continue on Saturday, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.
 
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Against Ithaca Friday, AU put their lead-off batter on base in each of the first five innings, but couldn't put a run across. The Saxons' best opportunities came in the fourth, when they had runners on second and third with no outs, and in the fifth, when they loaded the bases with two outs. Both times, the AU threats ended with a strikeout. All told, AU stranded eight runners through the first five frames.
 
AU sophomore pitcher Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) held Ithaca hitless through four innings before the Bombers' Erin McQuillan reached on a single with one out in the fifth and Emily Bloom walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Nikkey Skuraton followed with an RBI single to plate McQuillan with the go-ahead run.
 
After a scoreless sixth, AU took the lead with a pair of runs in the seventh. Junior third baseman Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) walked with one out and senior outfielder Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) reached on a bunt single. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch to bring up senior shortstop Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy).  Maher hit a ground ball to second and Thompson beat the throw home to score the tying run. Sophomore Haley Powers (Newark, DE/St. Georges Tech) followed with a single to center to score Jauregui with the go-ahead run.
 
Ithaca answered in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Skuraton was hit by a pitch and stole second before coming home with the tying run on a Vanessa Brown double. Brown advanced to third on a fly-out and scored the  winning run on a Casey Gavin single up the middle.
 
Alfred out-hit the Bombers, 8-4, but stranded 10 runners. Thompson (double) and Jauregui were each 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Saxons, while Maher and Powers each drove in a run. Torchia and senior catcher Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) each doubled.
 
Keeler went the distance in taking the loss for AU, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out three. Keeler walked five and hit three Ithaca batters to fall to 12-7 on the year.
 
Skuraton and Brown each had a hit, scored once and drove in a run for Ithaca. Alison Macari earned the pitching win in relief of starter Laura Quicker, allowing two earned runs on four hits in four innings. Quicker allowed four hits and walked two in three innings of work.