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HAMILTON – Sophomore
Jordan Miller hit a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure a 6-3 extra-inning victory over Central New York rival Cornell Tuesday afternoon in a game for the ages at Eaton Street Field.
The Raiders trailed 3-2 heading into the final inning of regulation, but a game-tying RBI base hit from sophomore
Virginia Irby sent the contest to extras. After sophomore
Jessica Hay retired the Big Red in order in the top of the eighth, a heavy snow squall made its way through Hamilton and forced a 30-minute snow delay. Miller came up clutch with her first home run of the season once the game resumed to lift the Raiders to victory.
Miller finished the game with five RBI thanks to the three-run home run and a two-run double in the second inning. Hay earned the win in the circle as she retired all 10 batters she faced in her strong relief appearance.
Following a scoreless first inning, the Big Red got on the board in the top of the second thanks to a solo home run from Bridgette Rooney.
Colgate answered right back in the bottom of the frame as junior
Baillie Jorth roped a leadoff double and classmate
Meghan Romero followed with single. Miller then faced an 0-2 count, but stepped up with a double to the warning track to drive in Jorth and Romero and put then Raiders ahead 2-1.
Rooney's second solo homer of the day tied the score at 2-2 in the first at-bat of the fourth inning. Cornell then used three more hits to plate another run and take a 3-2 advantage through three and a half frames.
The Cornell pitching staff kept Colgate hitless from the third through sixth innings until the Raiders put together a rally when it mattered most in the bottom of the seventh. Romero was hit by a pitch before first-year
Christiana Cottrell laid down a one-out bunt single to put runners on first and second. Following a strike out, Irby came through with a clutch single to right to score Romero, knot the score at 3-3 and send the game to extra innings.
Hay retired the Big Red in order in the top of the eighth before Geranen drew a leadoff walk to open the top of the eighth. After a 30-minute delay due to a snow squall, the game got back underway.
Jorth drew a walk to put two runners on base before Miller stepped up with the three-run moonshot over the left field fence to send the Raiders home with a 6-3 walk-off victory.
BOTTOM LINE
- Colgate 6, Cornell 3 (8 innings)
WON-LOST RECORDS
- Colgate improves to 7-23 on the season with the victory.
- Cornell drops to 11-15 overall.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- Miller's five RBI upped her season total to a team-best 17.
- It was Miller's first home run of the season.
- Hay captured her second win of the season in the circle. She finished with a perfect line of no runs, no hits, no walks in 3.1 innings of relief work.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach
Marissa Lamison-Myers
- "It was like all four seasons wrapped into one game, but the team did a really job of staying focused and sticking to the plan. At the end Jo came through with a big hit and we couldn't be happier."
- "Jess Hay was huge today. We told her she was going to be a relief role today and she was ready. She did her job and that's all I can ask."
- "We have to bottle this energy up and take it with us this weekend to Lafayette."
Sophomore
Jordan Miller
- "This game was crazy. Our team really embraced the snow break and we were all so hyped and wanted to get the job done. In my last at-bat I knew that she was going to try to come right at us and go up on me. I saw it come out of her hand and just went for it."
- "The energy from the team was huge and that's a big reason why that at-bat went so well."
- "We're going to face really similar pitching against Lafayette. This win was huge to take into the weekend."
UP NEXT
- The Raiders are back on the road this weekend for a key Patriot League series at Lafayette.
- Saturday's doubleheader begins at noon, while Sunday's single game is also slated for a 12 p.m. start.
