The season came to an end for the GCC softball team on Friday afternoon after the Cougars fell to No. 2 nationally ranked Herkimer College in a best of three series for the Region III Group A championship. Genesee lost two consecutive games and will end its season with a 19-16 overall record.
Genesee lost 8-0 in five innings in game one, managing just three hits in the opener.
Herkimer, the regional tournament's top seed and the home team in game one, jumped out of the gate with a three run first inning, getting to GCC starter Mackenzie Weber for four hits in the first frame.
Abigail Noeth led off the second with a single for Genesee and moved into scoring position on a fielder's choice, but was left stranded. The Cougars left a total of five runners on base in game one.
The Generals put together four more hits in the second and scored two more runs to up their lead to 5-0 after two.
Both offenses went quietly in the third and fourth innings and a pair of baserunners in the fifth went wasted for Genesee, which gave up three runs in the fifth to fall via the mercy rule.
GCC took a lead early in game two, scoring in the bottom of the first after a leadoff single by Sydney Brenton was cashed in on an RBI single from Weber.
The Cougars added to their lead in the third when with two outs, Noeth singled and Weber walked to put a pair of runners on. Joelle Kaminski then roped an opposite field double that scored both runners to give GCC a 3-0 lead.
Herkimer responded in top of the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate and tallying seven runs on six hits to take a 7-3 lead, a lead the Generals would not give up.
The GCC offense managed just two hits, including a Weber RBI single in the seventh, the rest of the way and the Cougars gave up a run in the fifth, a run in the sixth, and four more in the seventh to fall for the final time this season.
Weber finished game two 2-2 with two walks and two RBI's and Brenton, Kaminski, Noeth and Shiori Ubukata each added a hit apiece.
With the win, Herkimer claims a regional title for the sixth consecutive season and advances to the NJCAA National Tournament.