May 16, 2009
Sea Gulls slay Red Dragons to advance in NCAA Championship
MONTCLAIR, N.J. - The No. 11 Salisbury
University softball team held on to defeat No. 10 SUNY Cortland,
2-1, in a Saturday elimination game in the 2009 NCAA Division III
championship held at Montclair State University.
Salisbury (40-6) will face No. 25 Gustavus Adolphus College
tomorrow (Sunday, May 17) at Noon in an elimination game. The
Gusties (40-8) lost 2-0 to Messiah College (41-4) on Saturday.
Cortland (44-9) just missed a chance to tie the Sea Gulls in the
top of the seventh inning as Red Dragon first baseman Emily Ringen
led-off with a double to left field. Ringen's hit just barely
missed going out of the stadium as it bounced off the wall. Lexi
Deming entered as a pinch-runner for Ringen with no outs. The next
batter popped out to Salisbury first baseman Ali
Ritter to keep Deming at second base. Jessica Harman
stepped to the plate and hit a grounder to SU All-American
shortstop Kelly Waskewicz who overthrew Ritter as
Harman reached base and Deming made the turn at third base and
raced home. Sea Gull right fielder Casey Zaino
backed up the Waskewicz throw and fired a bullet to All-American
catcher Lauren Brenneman to get Deming at the
plate for the second out as Harman took second. Bethany Williamson
followed and hit a shot to right-center field but just when the
ball looked like it would fall in and score Harman to tie the game
Zaino dove and made the game ending catch.
"She made two outstanding plays in the seventh," said SU coach
Margie Knight. "She threw two people out [in the
game] and the reason we are playing Sunday is because of Casey
Zaino."
The Sea Gulls players and bench ran out to right field to
celebrate the win with Zaino after the game as the Dragons end
their season with two losses in the championship. Cortland left 11
runners on base in the one-run loss.
The Red Dragons, the visiting team, scored the game's first run
in the top of the first inning. Second baseman Donnalyn Cross
(2-for-3) started the game with a single down the right field line
off SU starting pitcher Stacy Davis. Cross moved over on a
sacrifice bunt and later scored on a RBI single to right field by
catcher Sammi Dieffenbach.
Salisbury responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning
as Waskewicz led-off with a walk. Designated player
Brittany Lounge reached on a throwing error by
Ringen. Brenneman moved Waskewicz and Lounge to third and second
base, respectively, with a sacrifice bunt. Cortland pitcher Katie
Finch (26-7) almost got out of the inning as the Red Dragons had
two outs but a wild pitch allowed Waskewicz to bolt home and tie
the game at one.
In the bottom of the third inning, All-American outfielder
Meaghan O'Gara started things off with a single
down the right field line. Waskewicz followed and reached on an
error to place Sea Gull runners at second and third base with no
outs. Lounge then blooped a single to left field off Finch. O'Gara
scored and Waskewicz raced home but was gunned down by the Red
Dragon defense for the out as Lounge took second base. SU could not
plate Lounge as the Sea Gulls took a 2-1 lead into the fourth
inning.
In the fourth, sophomore pitcher Kelsey Mills
(19-3) entered the circle for the Sea Gulls. Davis finished the day
with three innings pitched where she allowed one run on three hits,
walked none and struck out two.
Cortland loaded the bases in the fifth inning but Mills and the
Sea Gull defense recorded three straight outs to end the threat.
The last out was a come back shot to Mills who threw the ball to
Brenneman to record the force out at the plate.
Mills finished the day with four innings pitched where she
allowed no runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three. In
the loss, Finch allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, walked
one and struck out two.
Salisbury reaches the 40-win plateau for the first time since
2005 and the fifth time ever in program history since 1973.
2009 NCAA Division III Softball Championship
