By P.J. Harmer

Staff Writer

ONEONTA — Oneonta High graduate Jamie Llewellyn put a little hop in th

Photo by Julie Lewis Oneonta State’s Erin Hodges slides safely into second base as the throw to Hartwick shortstop Tressa Campbell is late during the fourth inning Thursday.

e step of the Oneonta State softball team Thursday.

Llewellyn’s tiebreaking, two-out double in the bottom of the second inning helped the Red Dragons to an 8-1 non-conference victory over Hartwick College.

"I just wanted to put it in play to just try and get the run in," said Llewellyn, whose hit skipped past Hartwick third baseman Katie Holley just inside the foul line. Allison Bandos, who singled to start the rally, scored the go-ahead run from first on th[an error occurred while processing this directive]e double, snapping a 1-1 tie.

"I thought it was foul," said Llewellyn, a Daily Star First-Team All-Star for OHS in 2004. "I was looking for something I liked and it kind of got a little in on my hands."

Shannon Egan followed with a fly ball to center field, but Rose Cunningham (Jefferson) lost a battle with the sun and dropped it. Llewellyn came home on the error — one of five for Hartwick (4-21) — to give O-State a 3-1 lead. The Red Dragons (12-10) scored two more in the third and closed with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

"Five errors against anyone is going to put you in the hole," first-year Hartwick coach Brian Claypool said. "That’s been an Achilles’ heel for us. When we don’t play defense, we come up short."

Lefty Erica Gifford plated both runs in the third, following Michelle Norwich’s single with a towering home run to right field. Gifford’s third homer of the season covered about 235 feet before crashing into the scoreboard.

"I fouled off two hit-and-runs," Gifford said. "I got my pitch and it just popped right off the bat. It felt good."

Said first-year O-State coach Deanna Parks: "That was a shot. We’ve been waiting for that all year. She has the potential to do that every at-bat."

Rena Finsmith gave O-State a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring on a groundout to second by Gifford. Finsmith singled, stole second and moved to third on an error to set up Gifford’s RBI.

Hartwick took advantage of the sun’s glare in the second as Katie Holley’s routine pop fly fell in front of right fielder Llewellyn, who played shortstop for OHS last season. Trish Shorey sacrificed Holley to second and, after Cunningham struck out, Paige Harris (Unatego) singled to short-center to bring in the tying run.

"I went up to the plate with the mentality that I’m going to get a hit and swing the bat," said Harris, a Daily Star first-teamer last spring. "You can’t hit if you don’t swing. I went up aggressive."

Harris, a converted catcher, also came up with several nice scoops at first base.

"It’s definitely a learning experience," said Harris, who moved from catcher to first earlier this season. "(Being a catcher) helps to read the batter and it helps with scoops because I’m used to everything in the dirt."

O-State starter Amy Herba (8-4) allowed three hits and struck out two in four innings for the victory. Reliever Kacie Cunningham closed with three scoreless innings for her first save this spring.

Finsmith and Norwich finished with two hits apiece for the Red Dragons, who made three errors. Defending SUNY Athletic Conference champion O-State, third in the conference at 7-3 this season, plays at Oswego at 3 p.m. Friday before visiting first-place Cortland (20-7, 8-0) at 1 p.m. Saturday. Geneseo (15-10) is second in the SUNYAC at 8-4.

"Playing the single game (Thursday) isn’t ideal, but it gave us a chance to do different things," said Parks, whose team is used to playing double-headers against conference opponents. "It was good for us not to let the mistakes make a major impact. That’s been our downfall in games we’ve lost. We made mistakes today, but they didn’t hurt us."

Julie Scarano went 3-for-3 to pace the Hawks, who play host to Alfred at 1 p.m. Saturday.

O-STATE 8, HARTWICK 1

HARTWICK ÐØ Ø ONEONTA STATEÐØÐØ Ø

ab r h bi Ø ÐØÐØØØ ab r h bi

Benak lf 4Ø0Ø0Ø0 Egan cf 4Ø0Ø0Ø0

Scarano rf 3Ø0Ø3Ø0 Finsmith 2b 4Ø2Ø2Ø0

Campbell ss 2Ø0Ø0Ø0 Norwich c 4Ø1Ø2Ø0

Holley 3b 3Ø1Ø0Ø0 Gifford 1b 3Ø1Ø1Ø3

Shorey dp/p 2Ø0Ø1Ø0 Prior pr/1b 1Ø0Ø0Ø0

RCunningham cf 3Ø0Ø0Ø0 Place ss 2Ø0Ø1Ø0

Harris 1b 3Ø0Ø1Ø1 SHerba pr/ss 0Ø1Ø0Ø0

Wasacz 2Ø0Ø0Ø0 Martin dp 3Ø0Ø0Ø0

Martini ph 1Ø0Ø0Ø0 Hodges lf 2Ø0Ø1Ø0

Conners c 3Ø0Ø0Ø0 Kane lf 0Ø0Ø0Ø0

Bandos 3b 2Ø1Ø1Ø1

Llewellyn rf 3Ø2Ø1Ø1

Totals ÐØ 26 1 5 1 Totals ÐÐ 28Ø8Ø9Ø5

Hartwick 010 000 0 — 1 5 5

Oneonta State 122 111 x — 8 9 3

E—Benak, Holley 2, RCunningham, Winski, SHerba, Bandos, Llewellyn. DP—Hartwick 1, O-State 2. LOB—Hartwick 6, O-State 5. 2B—Scarano, Llewellyn. 3B—Finsmith. HR—Gifford (3). SB—Cunningham, Egan, Finsmith, Norwich, Hodges, Llewellyn. S Shorey, SHerba. SF Bandos.

IPÐÐHÐR ERÐBBÐSO

HartwickØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØØ ÐØÐØ

Morgese (L, 2-8) Ø2ØØØØ4ÐØ3ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ1

Morrissey Ø1ØØØØ4ÐØ2ÐØ2ÐØ0ÐØ0

Winski Ø1 1-3ØØ0ÐØ2ÐØ0ÐØ1ÐØ0

Shorey Ø1 2-3ØØ1ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0

Oneonta State ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

AHerba (W, 8-4) Ø4ØØØØ3ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ2

KCunningham (S 1) Ø3ØØØØ2ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1ÐØ2

WP Shorey, Winski.

T—1:30. A—64.

———

P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.