ELMIRA, N.Y. -- For the first time since 2013, the Elmira College softball team is heading back to the Empire 8 Conference Championships. The Soaring Eagles (6-18, 5-13 E8) earned a 6-3 win in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, before the Pioneers (13-13, 8-12 E8) picked up a 13-0 win in five innings in the nightcap. With the win in game one, Elmira secured a spot in the six-team E8 tournament.
 
Elmira 6, Utica 3
Elmira clinched a postseason berth with a 6-3 win in game one of the doubleheader, much thanks to EC's defensive efforts.
 
Ally Barr '21 got the start in the pitcher's circle for the Soaring Eagles and turned in one of her finest performances of the season. The Pine City, New York, native tossed a complete game, allowing just two earned runs with five strikeouts.
 
Utica opened the game by scoring a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single from Emily Joss, but the Elmira women answered in the bottom half of the inning with a run of their own. Elmira worked a double steal, forcing a throw to second that prompted Janie Kempf '21 to race home and slide under the tag for EC's first run of the game.
 
Barr then held the Pioneer scoreless in four consecutive innings, before the Elmira offense was able to manufacture a run in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Bella DeAmelia '24 hit a dribbler to the left side of the infield and the throw went home. Madison Akots, Utica's catcher, did not have her foot on the plate when she made the catch, as Mykenzie Malacusky '23 slid home for the go-ahead run.
 
Utica tied it up at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from Joss, but the Purple and Gold erupted for four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take control of the contest.
 
Alex Brockhuizen '22 and Hannah Flagg '24 produced RBIs in the sixth, and Brockhuizen scored on a passed ball. Brockhuizen's RBI put EC ahead, 3-2, before making it 4-2 on the passed ball. Flagg, on the other hand, laced a double to left field that scored Barr and Alexis Dinga '22.
 
Utica got a run back in the top of the seventh inning, scoring a run with two outs. However, Felicity Brockhuizen '22 gunned out Abbigayle Finch, who attempted to steal second base, for the final out of the game.
 
Utica 13, Elmira 0 (5 innings)
From start to finish, game two was all Utica. The Pioneers racked up 13 runs on 18 hits, including an eight-run fourth inning that turned a 2-0 lead into a 10-0 advantage. However, of the 13 runs scored, only six were earned.
 
Gabriella Caccamo held EC's offense in check, limiting the Soaring Eagles to just one hit in five innings.
  
News and Notes

• Elmira clinched a berth into the Empire 8 Conference Championships.
• EC will make its first appearance in the conference tournament since 2013.
• It will be EC's first postseason appearance since 2014.
• Elmira is 5-2 this season when scoring six runs or more.
• EC's three RBIs in game one were the fewest the team has recorded in a win this season.
• The six hits in game one were also the fewest hits EC has logged in a win this year.
• Barr's five strikeouts were the second-highest total of the 2021 season.

 
Up Next
Elmira is back in action on Tuesday, May 4, when the Soaring Eagles host the Gators of Russell Sage College in a 4:00 p.m. doubleheader at Eldridge Park Stadium.