The SUNY Oneonta softball team battled through a pair of rain delays totaling 1 hour and 24 minutes before disposing of the Buffalo State Bengals in an elimination game on day 3 of the SUNYAC Tournament.  The Red Dragons got some timely hits and a solid outing from senior Sabrina DeAngelis (East Meadow/Kellenberg Memorial) to defeat the Bengals 5-4.
 
Oneonta (24-13) put the first two runs on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning.  Senior Katie O'Gorman (Clifton Park/Shenendehowa) led off the inning with a single through the left side.  She was then erased on a force at second which allowed sophomore Selena Ruiz (Westbury/W.T. Clarke) to reach first base.  With one out, Ruiz stole second and came around to score on a double to right field by senior Marlene Cuevas (Wappingers Falls/Roy C. Ketcham).  Cuevas then scored when the next batter, sophomore Lauren Sabatino (Bayville/Locust Valley), doubled down the left field line.
 
Buffalo State tied the game in the home half of the fourth inning after the first rain delay in the top of the inning.  Oneonta did get a runner to third, but couldn't bring her home.
 
DeAngelis hit the leadoff batter, Julie Blujus, who advanced to second on a ground out.  Blujus was knocked in with a double off the bat of Allie Block who doubled to centerfield.  Cassandra O'Hearn followed Block with a double of her own to tie the game at two apiece.
 
The game wasn't tied for long as sophomore Dana Del Genio (New Hartford/New Hartford) cracked her third home run of the season to put the Red Dragons back out in front 3-2.
 
Oneonta added another run in the sixth when senior Jennifer Brocco (Kingston/Kingston) hit a sacrifice fly to drive in freshman Brooke Corbett (Bethlehem/Bethlehem Central/Delmar) who had led off the inning with a double before being sacrificed to third by senior Killeen Martin (Bay Shore/Bay Shore).
 
The Bengals got one back in their half of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by O'Hearn that drove in Block who led off the inning with a triple.
 
The Red Dragons manufactured what would turn out to be the winning run in the seventh inning.  Ruiz and Del Genio hit back-to-back singles before being sacrificed over by Cuevas.  Sabatino then did her job by driving in Ruiz with a sacrifice fly to left field.
 
The rains came again and the game was delayed before Buffalo State came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.
 
The inning started with a throwing error by the third baseman, which allowed Emma Ruggiero to reach third base.  She was then knocked in by a Blujus one-out single.  The next batter was Lauren Crooks who reached on a fielder's choice where an error allowed Blujus to reach second.  With the tying run on second base, Block grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the game.
 
Oneonta finished the contest with 10 hits led by Del Genio and Corbett who had two hits each.  DeAngelis struck out three batters and picked up her 12^th win of the season.
 
In the game, O'Gorman set another career mark for the program.  With her two singles, she has now collected 260 total bases breaking the old mark of 258 set by Hall of Famer Lizbeth Oppenheimer in 2003.
 
Oneonta is scheduled to face Plattsburgh tomorrow at 1pm weather permitting.  The forecast is for more of the same for tomorrow, which could put all games in jeopardy.  Today's other game between Cortland and Oswego was halted in the first inning, which pushes their continuation to tomorrow at 9am weather permitting.