ONEONTA, N.Y. – Russell Sage College Softball saw its season come to a close in the first round of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament Championship, falling 3-1 to SUNY Poly.

The playoff contest, which due to field availability and the rainy weather forecast, was moved from Albany to the beautiful Cooperstown All Star Village in Oneonta.  With seasons on the line, Tuesday afternoon looked to be a pitchers' duel on paper, pitting two of the top in the Conference, RSC junior Leah Madore (Williamsville, VT/Brattleboro Union) (9-10) against SUNY Poly graduate student Trinity Critelli (12-9).  Critelli headed into the day leading the E8 in innings pitched and strikeouts, while Madore, the program career leader for strikeouts, sat third in both innings pitched and K's.  The duo combined to permit just seven hits and tally 17 strikeouts.

SUNY Poly, the visitors on the scoreboard as the seven seed, took advantage of the rainy weather, two runs in the top of the first via four walks.

The Gators, seeded sixth, had their chances to get on the board early, loading the bases with one out in the first and having runners on second and third with one out of the second.  Critelli bore down, adding to her E8 strikeout lead with back-to-back K's to keep the shutout.  The right-hander fanned 11 Gators on the day.

RSC (16-24/12-10 E8), which qualified for the Tournament for the fifth-straight year, halved its deficit in the fifth.  Infielder Annalise Tyler (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont), the Conference leader in hits, led off with a double.  The two-base hit was career hit number 100 for the sophomore.  Sophomore shortstop Allison Kenyon (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) sacrificed Tyler to third, who scored on a groundout by junior catcher Emma Heartquist (Stuyvesant, NY/Ichabod Crane).

SUNY Poly (19-15/12-10 E8) added an insurance marker in the seventh on an RBI double by senior infielder Kimberly Birmingham. The infielder went 1-for-2 with two RBI and a pair of walks to help send the Wildcats to the double-elimination portion of the Tournament, which begins Thursday at Saint John Fisher. 

Gator Bites with Papa John's: 12 returnees combined with eight newcomers on this year's roster…Senior outfielder Madalyn Ring (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls), Tyler, and Madore highlighted the returning Gators…Madore and Tyler earned second-team All-E8 honors last spring, while Ring made third-team All-Conference… Madore punched out 154 batters across 174 innings, both single-season program records in 2024...The righty established a new school single-season strikeout standard this spring with 162...She became the program's all-time leader for career strikeouts in the complete game shutout of visiting Saint John Fisher on April 4…Madore headed into the playoffs with 368 career K's and 413.2 innings pitched...The righty became just the second Gator pitcher to eclipse 400.0 career innings pitched in the E8 doubleheader sweep at SUNY Poly on April 30...She surpassed 350 career K's on April 29 vs. Union...The junior closed the regular season with 156 strikeouts, 121.0 innings pitched and a 2.95 ERA...The marks ranked third, third, and sixth respectively in the Conference...She was chosen the E8 Pitcher of the Week for the period ending Sunday, April 6…Madore went 3-0 and whiffed 15 batters across 15.0 scoreless innings…The right-hander tossed no-hitters in the shutout wins at Keuka on April 19 and at Hartwick on April 22…Ring closed the spring with 56 career stolen bases, good for third in RSC records...She had career hit number 100 on April 29 vs. Union…Tyler began the playoffs atop the Conference with 58 hits…She ranked fifth in the E8 with 17 stolen bases, sixth with 39 runs scored and sixth with 12 doubles...The sophomore sat eighth in the Conference with a .443 batting average and 74 total bases...E8 hurlers had difficulty in getting the RSC table setter out this spring as she hit .513, more than 30 points better than any second basemen in the Conference and registered a 1.207 ops in E8 play...Looking deeper into the numbers among E8 keystone players, Tyler headed into the playoffs leading her positional comps in overall batting average, hits, stolen bases, doubles, total bases...Accounting for just Conference games, she topped second basemen in average, hits, doubles, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, ops, and total bases...RSC opened its spring with eight contests in Florida between March 10-14… Sophomore outfielder Bella Julian (Cicero, NY/Cicero North-Syracuse) led the Gators with a .500 batting average during the time in the "Sunshine State"…She commenced the playoffs with a Conference-best and program single-season record eight triples…Kenyon, Heartquist and Ring comprised the team's Leadership Committee.