The 2018 season came to an end for the Tompkins Cortland Community College softball team Sunday with the Panthers on the losing end of a doubleheader sweep at Erie Community College. The Panthers lost by scores of 12-1 and 10-2 to end the season with a record of 6-14. Erie improves to 16-10.
Game 1: Erie 12, Tompkins Cortland 1 (5 innings)
The Panthers opened the game on a positive note, with Bailey Rose (Dryden/Dryden H.S.) reaching base on a one-out walk and then coming around to score on a double by Ashley Aloi (Cortland/Homer H.S.). The 1-0 lead was erased by a pair of Erie runs in the bottom of the first, and the Kats didn't stop there. Erie scored twice in the second, six times in the third, and twice more in the fourth to provide the final margin.
Rose ended up with hits in her next two times up to bat, accounting for two of the team's five hits.
Game 2: Erie 10, Tompkins Cortland 2 (5 innings)
With Erie batting first in game two, the Panthers fell behind early. The Kats scored five times in the first inning and three more in the second before the Panthers could respond. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Miranda Oot (McGraw/McGraw H.S.) singled and eventually came around to score the team's first run, In the bottom of the third, Aloi led off with a double and came around to score two outs later on a ground out by Sarah Hollenbeck (Candor/Tioga Center H.S.). The Panthers could get no closer and Erie's two runs in the fourth gave the Kats the margin to end the game by the run rule.
Four different Panthers had hits in game two, including Rose, who ended the season with a nine-game hitting streak.