Virginia Wesleyan, ranked fifth in the latest NFCA Div. III coaches’ poll, scored four runs in the third inning to break up a scoreless deadlock and defeat No. 16 Gettysburg 8-0 In five innings in the first game of the NCAA Division. III softball championship super regional round on Thursday.
An error allowed Halee Hawkins to reach base to lead off the bottom of the third inning. After a groundout, singles from Sarah Prosser and Julia Piotrowski loaded the bases before Sadler was able to score on a ground ball for the game’s first run. A Morgan Tucker RBI groundout made it 2-0 with two outs before Mackenzie Myers poked a single back up the middle to score both runs and cap a four-run frame for Virginia Wesleyan. Olivia Knight led off the fourth with a home run before Sadler doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice. She then scored on a groundout to the right side. A walk, a stolen base, and Laci Campbell’s RBI single made it a 7-0 game. Tucker reached on a single and an error before giving way to pinch-runner Jenna Laird, who took third on a groundout and scored on an error for the run-rule run.
Audrey Bergan and Morgan DeFreitas had the lone hits for the Bullets. Jamie Shaw was on base twice for Gettysburg, drawing two walks.
Virginia Wesleyan needs to win just one game on Friday to advance to the Women’s College World Series, while Gettysburg would have to win twice in the final two games of the best-of-three series to move on to Bloomington, Ill. Friday’s Game Two of the superregional begins at 1 p.m.
This story first appeared on the Gettysburg College website.