D 3 softball

[WLCALUM83]

#5 Swarthmore takes the Centennial AQ by knocking off #1 Ursinus on a walk-off!

[E.115]

#3 Case Western Reserve just had their 20-game win streak snapped!   

https://athletics.case.edu/sports/sball/2022-23/releases/20230507sa2t5j

[WLCALUM83]

5-9-23 Weekly honors now up:

https://nfca.org/divnews/ncaa3/division-iii-player-pitcher-of-the-week-5-9-23

[WLCALUM83]

Wentworth and Western NE going into extra innings tied at 3!

Developing. . .

Final:  Western NE 4, Wentworth 3  8 innings. (SS A Ferriouol singled with the bases loaded and 2 out to drive in the game-winning run here.)

[WLCALUM83]

One for the "Somethin's Gotta Give" dept.:

Between Coe, Central-IA and Luther, one of those teams will not make the ARC tournament final. The question will be, will all 3 still get in to the NCAA tournament??

3 of Coe's pitchers finished in the top 7 in the ARC in ERA:
  (Ellie Thurow 2nd 1.51; Abbie White 3rd 1.70; Hannah Ausenhus 7th 2.36:  If Central-IA's Huismann and Beck and Luther's Cooper all bring their A games this will be another real dogfight. (Cooper was 20-3, ERA 1.39)

On offense Central-IA's Haley Bach & Emma Johnson and Luther's Abby Spohr all hit over .400 in the regular season.

    X-factors:  NE-Wesleyan's Elise Warneke (18-10  2.65 ERA) and Emma Alfieri (.397 5
                    HR 20 RBI) Wartburg's Reegan Deputy (.407 BA 6 HR 30 RBI), Loras P Ashlyn Hemm
                    (11-5 2.29 ERA) will do their best to try to shake things up unexpectedly
                     for the Top 3.

[WLCALUM83]

Wentworth and Western NE going into extra innings tied at 3!

Developing. . .

Final:  Western NE 4, Wentworth 3  8 innings. (SS A Ferriouol singled with the bases loaded and 2 out to drive in the game-winning run here.)

Endicott already made it to the CCC Final Series;
     Wentworth/WNE Winner 5/12 will be the team Endicott will face.

[deiscanton]

NECC conducted their softball tournament last weekend, and has determined their final AQ for softball in their history of the conference before it ceases to exist on June 30, 2023.

Eastern Nazarene clinched the NECC's AQ on May 7, 2023 with a win over New England College in the championship game.

www.neccathletics.com/sports/sball/2022-23/releases/champs

[deiscanton]

Little East tournament update--

#1 seed Eastern Connecticut State has just won the winner's bracket game vs #2 seed UMass-Dartmouth, 7-3, and has advanced to the Championship Final.

The Championship Final series is scheduled to start tomorrow (Sat. May 13) at noon Eastern.   E. Conn. St. needs 1 more win to clinch the AQ.

#2 seed UMass-Dartmouth will need to win an elimination game scheduled to start at 6 PM Eastern tonight vs the winner of the 3 PM Eastern elimination game between #4 seed Castleton and #5 seed Rhode Island College.  The winner of the 6 PM Eastern eliminaton game will then need to defeat Eastern Connecticut State twice tomorrow to clinch the AQ.

[TUAngola]

Ticket punched - Trine wins the MIAA AQ to the NCAA DIII softball tournament.

All games played at Trine U SportOne Parkview Field:

Game one: #1 Trine over #4 Adrian 2-1
Game two: #2 Calvin over #3 Alma 5-4 10 innings
Game three: #4 Adrian over #3 Alma 5-0
Game four: #1 Trine over #2 Calvin 1-0 10 innings
Game five: #2 Calvin over #4 Adrian 3-2 10 innings
Game six: #1 Trine over #2 Calvin 7-1

Once again Trine's pitching was just stellar in the tournament, just as it has been all season.  Calvin arms were all used up by today's 4th game of the tournament as they had to play an incredible 30 innings in their first 3 games.  After spotting Calvin a 1 run lead the Trine bats finally came to life to cruise to victory over the Knights. 

Trine has a strong 3 girl pitching rotation with Debbie Hill, Alexis Michon, MIAA pitcher of the year Anna Koeppl, with reliever Lauren Clausen.  Last year's ace of the staff, Adrienne Rosey, has been out all season, save for a pitch running stint here and there.  The offense stepped up today as we are also without our team leader, Ellie Trine, who was injured in the next to last conference doubleheader of the year, and could miss the rest of her senior season.  The girls have a very solid defense and deep bench.  Several of this years freshman don't get to play much but when they do are pretty impressive.

[deiscanton]

In Friday's Game 7B-- the game to decide who will face Endicott in the CCC Best 2 of 3 Championship Series tomorrow--

After 4 innings, Western New England is leading over Wentworth, 8-0.   Western New England only needs to get 3 outs against Wentworth in the top of the 5th without Wentworth scoring a run to eliminate Wentworth via the 8 run rule and advance.

Update-- Wentworth scored a run in the top of the 5th to keep the ball game going.  Western New England leading over Wentworth, 8-1, after 4 1/2 innings.   Western New England can end the ball game with another run in their half of the 5th inning.  If WNEU does not score, the ball game will go to the 6th inning.

Update-- Final score-- Western New England 9, Wentworth 1 in 5 innings.    Western New England scores the walkoff run on an RBI single with 2 out.

Western New England will now head to Beverly, MA to face Endicott in a best 2 out of 3 game series starting tomorrow for the CCC AQ.  The first 2 games will be played tomorrow with a third game on Sunday if necessary.

[deiscanton]

In Game #1 of the single elimination NESCAC tournament-- #1 seed Tufts and #8 seed Middlebury are heading to extra innings tied at 2-2.

All NESCAC softball tournament games are being played this weekend at Tufts-- Tufts gets to host the entire tournament as the #1 seed.

Final:  Tufts 3, Middlebury 2 in 8 innings.   2 out and bases loaded when winning run for Tufts scores on an RBI single.

Come from behind win for Tufts, with Emile Doty getting the win for Tufts in relief.  Middlebury was leading 2-0 after 4 innings.

Tufts advances to the NESCAC semifinals, and will next play at 2:30 PM tomorrow against the winner of the #4 seed Colby vs # seed Bowdoin game.  Colby will play Bowdoin tomorrow in the final NESCAC quarterfinal game at 9:30 AM Eastern.

Other quarterfinal games are #2 seed Amherst vs #7 seed Bates-- scheduled for an approx 5:20 PM Eastern start today, and #3 seed Williams vs #6 seed Trinity, which is being played at noon Eastern tomorrow.

8 PM Eastern update-- #7 seed Bates defeated #2 seed Amherst, 1-0, in the 2nd quarterfinal game played today.   Bates advances to the 5 PM Eastern Saturday semifinal vs the winner of Williams vs Trinity.

[deiscanton]

The 3 PM elimination game has gone final with #4 seed Castleton University defeating #5 seed Rhode Island College, 11-1, in 5 innings. (RI College is eliminated.)

#2 seed UMass-Dartmouth will now face #4 seed Castleton in an elimination game at 6 PM Eastern.   The winner will head to the Championship Final tomorrow against #1 seed Eastern Connecticut, and will then have to defeat ECSU twice to clinch the AQ out of the Little East.

[WLCALUM83]

NACC:  #3 seed Dominican pulled a mild upset on #2 MSOE-fortunately the Raiders have kept winning after that. Concordia-WI is starting out strong as well. CUW gets Dominican, and then the loser of that one plays MSOE in an elimination game tomorrow.

American Rivers:  Game 1:  Wartburg 6, Loras 2  Final
                           Game 2:  Central-IA 1, NE Wesleyan 0  3rd inning

HCAC:  MSJ and Transylvania are in a scoreless tie in the top of the 5th.

American Southwest:  #4 McMurry upset Mary Hardin-Baylor, then earlier today, HSU and UT-Dallas were eliminated. The Cru get LeTourneau in an elimination game, and the winner of that one gets McMurry.
     ETBU will vie for the ASC AQ in the last series here.

NJAC: Rowan has been eliminated in an upset!:    TCNJ and Ramapo handed the Profs back-to-back losses, (Ramapo got a 2-run walk-off HR with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th) so it's down to the latter 2 squads for the AQ here.

[WLCALUM83]

#2 seed Randolph Macon has the ODAC AQ after knocking off #1 Roanoke in the deciding series. It's VA Wesleyan's turn to join a bunch of other squads on the bubble.

[WLCALUM83]

Final:  Central-IA 1, NE Wesleyan 0. (Prairie Wolves gave up only 5 hits, but a Megan Stuhr 1st inning RBI held up).

5/13 docket:
#4 Wartburg/#1 Coe
#3 Centrall-IA/#2 Luther-IA (Dutch starting pitcher went only 2 1/3 innings vs. NE Wesleyan, it'll be interesting to see who they send up against top Luther pitcher Cooper)
Two winners in championship game.