Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

POTSDAM, N.Y. – In two highly competitive games, the State University of New York at New Paltz softball team lost a pair of one-run games, 2-1 and 5-4, to SUNY Potsdam in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Saturday afternoon.
 
Each of the games had a singular inning that changed the ultimate outcome, both wins being orchestrated by a key Potsdam double. In the first game, the host Bears pushed across the winning run in the fifth inning off a clutch double by senior Megan Johnson. In the second game, Potsdam used another double, this one by sophomore Katie Marsman, who sprinted home with the winning run following a New Paltz miscue.
 
New Paltz drops to 9-16, 6-7 SUNYAC. Potsdam improves to 5-16, 4-5 SUNYAC. The Hawks will next play a non-conference doubleheader at Union (N.Y.) College on Wednesday, April 23 at 3 p.m. Potsdam travels to SUNY Oswego for a doubleheader tomorrow at 1 p.m.
 
Game One
Potsdam senior Megan Johnson not only pitched a seven hit gem – allowing just one New Paltz run in the second inning – but it was her double in the fifth inning that drove home the winning run. Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Bears pushed across a run in the fourth and fifth inning to eke out the 2-1 victory. In the fifth inning, Johnson delivered a huge double to right center that drove home pinch runner Rachel Grefke.
 
Hawks sophomore pitcher Katie Rutcofsky (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy) nearly duplicated the exploits of her Potsdam pitching counterpart. In the top of the second, her double brought home junior Juliette Verso (Commack, N.Y./Commack) for a 1-0 lead. But Potsdam's Johnson was in fine form and kept New Paltz off the board for the next five innings, striking out five batters, and walking none, improving to 2-7 on the season. Rutcofsky took a tough loss, falling to 6-6 on the season.
 
Game Two
Potsdam held a slim 2-0 lead through the first four innings of the game. The Hawks took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth, scoring all of their runs with two outs, capitalizing on two hits and two Potsdam errors. The big blow for the Hawks came off the bat of junior Noelle Grande, who doubled home junior Shayna Burgess (Smithtown, N.Y./Commack) and Rutcofsky and scored off the play following a Potsdam miscue.

Potsdam answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth against senior pitcher Amber Carozza (Milton, N.Y./Milton), who took the hard-luck loss, falling to 3-6 on the season. The Bears mustered their two runs on four pesky singles. The sixth inning went scoreless, and although Carozza had a single to lead off the seventh, she was stranded on second base.
 
Johnson, the winner in game one, earned her second victory of the day, holding New Paltz to four hits, in raising her record to 3-7.