MARSHALL, TX -- #16 Rowan fought its way back to the NCAA Tournament Regional Final with a 5-1 win over St. Thomas in an elimination game Friday evening at the Marshall Regional on the campus of East Texas Baptist.
The Profs (37-9) move on to take on the host #6 Tigers needing two wins to advance to the Super Regional round tomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m. (CT) / 12: 00 p.m. (ET) with the 'if necessary' game 30 minutes after.
Ava Fisher was 3-for-4 with a run and RBI while Kate Evick added some insurance in the seventh with a big two-run home run.
Starter Emily McCutcheon (18-5) went the distance, scattering seven hits on just one run, with two K's and a walk.
This was the second meeting of the teams in as many days, as
the Profs took down UST, 2-1, in eight innings on Thursday in the NCAA Regional Opener for both teams.
The Celts threatened in its first at-bat, as two singles and a walk loaded the bases. Now with two outs, Ciaira Gonzalez singled home one run but a strong throw from right from Carly Polsky was able to get the second runner at the plate to limit the damage to just one run.
In the second, pinch runner Lauren Foltz scored from third on a double steal with Polsky taking second to draw a throw to tie things at 1-1.
Fisher thought she broke the game open with a well hit ball to left center with the bases loaded, but it was ruled a single after the ball did not go over the fence and back into play. The single did allow Zara MacNair to score put the Profs ahead, 2-1.
Emma Dobkin led off the sixth with a walk, with Polsky following with a grounder to third but the throw to second for the forceout was off the mark to put two runners on. After a walk to Zara MacNair to load the bags again, Dansky brought home Dobkin with a sac fly to right to make it a two-run game.
Evick helped put a stamp on the win with a two-run homer in the seventh. It was her second longball of the season.
Savana Henken and Chloe Bennett each had two hits for the Celts (31-11), out of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
UMASS DARTMOUTH 12, STOCKTON 2
Worcester, Mass. – 18th-ranked Stockton University (30-8) played its first NCAA Tournament softball game in school history but fell to UMass Dartmouth (31-11) 12-2. The Ospreys were relegated to the elimination bracket of the regional, which is taking place at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
McKenna George went 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. Camryn Harry (Swedesboro/Paul VI) stroked two hits and scored once. Casey Sokol (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) added two hits as well.
UMass Dartmouth scored twice in the top of the first before Stockton got on the board in the bottom half when George drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Harry. The Corsairs plated one run in the second inning, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and four in the seventh.
The Ospreys scored the last run of the game on a throwing error in the bottom of the seventh to set the final at 12-2. Playing its first game in two weeks, Stockton totaled eight hits and got runners aboard but stranded 11 in the contest.
Bre Fontes and Olivia Silva rapped three hits apiece and combined for five RBI and three runs for UMass Dartmouth, who earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as champions of the Little East Conference.
Stockton will play an elimination game against Albertus Magnus tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Should they survive, then they would face either #12 WPI or UMass Dartmouth in another elimination game at 4:00 p.m.