Alishia Foss came through with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning of game one, but the Genesee Community College softball team fell in game two to split a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader with visiting Niagara County Community College.
Foss' single capped off a five-run seventh inning for the Lady Cougars, who battled back and forth with the Lady Thunderwolves in a high scoring first game.
Genesee scored four times in the bottom of the first but trailed 6-4 before their at bats in the third. Andrea Pursel and Yui Sotah put together back-to-back doubles and both scored runs to tie the game at six after three.
Niagara then scored three runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-6 lead and held GCC to just two hits during their next three at bats. The Lady Thunderwolves upped their lead to 10-6 with a run in the top of the seventh, before Genesee sent all nine batters to the plate in the seventh, highlighted by the walk-off single by Foss.
Sotah finished the game 3-4 with two doubles and three runs scored, Pursel went 2-4 and scored three runs and Rachel VanDuser went 3-4 with a triple, two singles and a run scored.
Along with the game-winning hit, Foss also earned the win on the mound, throwing all seven innings.
(Members of the GCC softball team celebrate after Alishia Foss delivers the game-winning hit in game one of a doubleheader against Niagara County Community College)
In game two, Niagara used a six-run second inning to take an 7-0 lead, but Genesee was able to climb back into the game. Taylor Gayton plated Pursel in the bottom of the second inning with an RBI groundout to get the Lady Cougars on the board and VanDuser delivered a run scoring single to get GCC to within 7-2.
Pursel, the game two starter, pitched around a hit in the third and fourth and kept Niagara off the board in both innings.
After two runs in the third, GCC put together a four-run fourth to take an 8-7 lead. Chelsea Lynch, Pursel, Sotah and Gayton each delivered RBI's in the inning.
That would be it for the GCC offense however, as Niagara took the lead with three runs in the fifth and added four in the seventh and held Genesee without a run over the final three innings to win 14-8.
Pursel went 3-4 in game two, scored three runs and drove in one, Lynch scored twice and stole a base and Gayton had two runs batted in.
With the split, Genesee is now 9-17 overall on the season. They will host Monroe Community College for a doubleheader on Thursday beginning at 3 p.m.
