---

#1 Corning Community College vs. #4 Hudson Valley Community College
Games 1 & 2: May 18 at 2:00 pm & 4:00 pm (at SUNY CCC)
Game 3 (if necessary): May 19 at 11:00 am (at SUNY CCC)
Live Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX1jPddP0Pk
Live Audio: https://network1sports.com/station/rlmsports

After winning regional titles in 2021 and 2022, the SUNY Corning Community College softball team will look to three-peat as regional champs, as the Red Barons host Hudson Valley Community College in the 2023 NJCAA Region 3A championship. A best-of-three-game series begins on Thursday, May 18, with a doubleheader at 2:00 pm and a third game - if necessary - at 11:00 am on Friday, May 19.

The winner of the Region 3A championship round will advance to the 2023 NJCAA Division III Softball National Tournament on May 24-27 at Carrier Park in DeWitt, New York.

Corning Community College enters the contest with a 33-8 overall record and has won 30 of its last 31 games, including 9-1 and 13-0 wins over Mohawk Valley Community College in the sub-regional round of the tournament.

The Red Barons have been phenomenal all season long in nearly every aspect of the game. Five players are batting above .400 this season, including the Mid-State Athletic Conference (MSAC) Player of the Year, Grace Vondracek, who sports a .588 average. Vondracek leads the Red Barons in hits (77), runs scored (79), stolen bases (39), walks (35), doubles (17), is second in RBIs (61), and is tied for second in home runs (11).

Corning’s powerful bats are aided by Lexi Wood, who is batting a shade under .500 (.497) and leads the squad with a whopping 86 RBIs. Wood also has 11 homers this season. Grace Talbut leads CCC in home runs with 15 dingers.

A total of 10 Red Barons are batting above .300 on the season, and as a team boast an incredible .422 batting average.

Defensively, the Red Barons have relied on a trio of pitchers throughout the season in Jayden Hill, Ciaran Iglesias, and Marley Lippitt. The three-headed pitching threat is led by Hill, who boasts a paltry 2.60 ERA with 152 strikeouts and a 17-2 record.

Corning’s opponent, Hudson Valley, finds itself in the regional title game for a second consecutive year after falling short to Herkimer College in 2022. The Vikings are 21-16 on the year but are playing some of their best ball of the season as of late with 12 wins in their last 14 contests.

As a team, Hudson Valley is batting .315 and has relied on a variety of players to step up to provide offense. Nine players have driven in 10 or more runs, including Maryssa Sano and Katie Mannis who share the team lead with 30 RBIs. Mannis is the team leader in home runs (7) and is second in doubles (11). Abigayle Campbell leads the Vikings in doubles (18) and is one shy of the team lead in RBIs (29).

Hudson Valley has utilized a trio of pitchers in the circle this year with Carly Gemmett carrying the load with 126 innings pitched. Gemmett owns a 15-6 record and an ERA of 3.33. Mannis, the team’s offensive threat, also doubles as a force in the pitcher’s circle. She’s made 18 appearances and is 6-6 with 35 strikeouts.

The last time Corning and Hudson Valley squared off dates back to April 10 when the Red Barons hosted the Vikings on Spencer Hill. CCC dispatched the Vikings, 9-1 and 10-2, in a doubleheader.

In game one, Corning jumped out to a 4-1 lead through the first two innings of play, before scoring five unanswered runs to close out the Vikings in six innings. Vondracek and Wood logged two hits apiece, with Vondracek driving in a game-high three runs. Hill got the win in the pitcher’s circle for CCC, tossing a full 6.0 innings with nine strikeouts.

Game two was three-run game for most of the contest, as the Red Barons entered the top of the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead. However, Corning put a six-spot on the scoreboard in the top half of the inning to close out the Vikings in five innings. Aubrey Ennis and Wood shared the game-high in RBIs with two each, while Emma Loomis, Caroline Courson, Lily Callahan, and Talbut added on apiece. Iglesias got the win for CCC by striking out six batters in five innings of work.