POTSDAM, N.Y.- The SUNY Potsdam softball team (8-14, 1-7 SUNYAC) received a gritty performance from Ashley Thayer but came out on the losing end of a doubleheader against Oneonta. Thayer threw all 14 innings and gave the Bears a chance to win both games but Potsdam fell by scores of 4-2 and 9-8.

The first game of the afternoon was a pitcher’s duel between Thayer and Rachel Hitt. Potsdam would strike first as sophomore Molly Zehler lead off the inning with a single and scored on an RBI double down the right field line off the bat of junior Heather Johnson. Thayer would keep the Red Dragons off the scoreboard until a rough fifth inning. The Bears’ ace allowed three runs (two earned) on three walks and no hits as Oneonta jumped ahead. Potsdam would claw within one run in the bottom of the fifth when Johnson’s sacrifice fly to center scored freshman Carissa Cornwell. The Bears had runners on first and second with one out in the sixth inning but Stephanie Gaska replaced Hitt on the mound and retired the last five batters of the game in order. The Red Dragons would add an insurance run in the seventh to take the game 4-2.

Oneonta jumped ahead with three runs in the top of the first in the second game but Potsdam responded in their half of the first inning. The Bears scored four runs on two hits as freshman Sami Brown led off with a bunt single and advanced on a Red Dragons error. Johnson drilled a double that scored Brown and put runners on second and third. The next batter walked to load the bases with one out. Cornwell was hit by a pitch, forcing a run home, and senior Katie Nawrot walked to drive in the fourth run. After the Bears extended the lead to 5-3, Oneonta would tie it with two runs in the top of the third. The Bears scored single runs in the next three innings and held an 8-6 lead going into the top of the sixth. However, the Red Dragons would put together three runs on two hits and take advantage of an error to pull ahead 9-8. In Potsdam’s last at bat, Sami Brown doubled with one out and advanced on Johnson’s groundout. Thayer came to the plate with the tying run 60 feet away but was robbed of a base hit by third basemen Laura Campbell, ending the ball game.

Thayer took the loss on the mound in both games. Brown ended the day with three hits and a run scored and stole two bases and Nawrot hit her second homerun in as many days. She now has three long balls on the season.

Potsdam returns to action on Tuesday, April 10 when they host cross-town rival SUNY Canton at home with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.