ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University softball team shut out Rowan University, 8-0 in five innings, Sunday morning to win the NCAA Division III championship tournament regional on AU's Harrington Park.
With the win, AU advances to next weekend's Super Regional round; the winners of the eight Super Regionals will move on to play in the Division III College World Series, May 21-26 in Salem, VA.
The 15
th-ranked Saxons (38-4) were playing Rowan, the 12
th-ranked team in the nation, for the second time in two days at the double-elimination regional tournament. Alfred, the tournament's second seed, shut out the top-seeded Profs 1-0 in Saturday morning's winner's bracket game. Rowan outslugged Lebanon Valley, 13-9, Saturday afternoon to set up a rematch with AU on Sunday.
Alfred wasted no time in Sunday morning's game, batting around in the bottom of the first to take a 5-0 lead after one. Two hit batsmen, sandwiched around an error, loaded the bags for the Saxons. After a strikeout, junior shortstop
Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy) cleared the bases with a double to left-center to put AU up 3-0. The next batter, junior catcher
Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) drove a homerun over the left field fence to give the Saxons a five-run lead.
The Saxons added some insurance with two runs in the third. Senior pitcher
Alison Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) singled and scored when Maher singled and advanced to third on an error. Picini followed with a sacrifice fly to score Maher and give Alfred a 7-0 advantage.
That was more than enough support for Wickwire, who held the Profs scoreless on two hits over five innings, striking out five. In the bottom of the fifth, Maher singled and was replaced with a pinch runner, who was erased when Picini reached on a fielder's choice. Junior catcher
Nora Passuite (Lockport, NY/Lockport) ran for Picini and stole second base before scoring the walk-off winning run on double to left by sophomore first baseman
Sophia Chiavatti (Tuston, CA/Foothill).
Maher was 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs and Chiavatti was 3-for-3 with a run driven in. Junior outfielder
Samantha Jauregui (Lidsay, CA/Lindsay), sophomore third baseman
Liz Thompson (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) and junior second baseman
Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) also scored runs for the Saxons.
Alyssa Romero and
Jessica Phillips (double) had hits for Rowan (38-8). Beth Ann Hyland started and took the pitching loss for the Profs, going one-third of an inning and five runs (four earned) on two hits with one strikeout.
Allison Nolan went two innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits, while
Rachel Gagliardo finished up, pitching two innings and allowing an earned run on three hits.
Rowan came into the regional tournament with one of the most potent offenses in the nation. The Profs had a .354 team batting average and had outscored their opponents 295-75 (7.0 runs to 1.8). In two games against the Saxons, Rowan was shut out twice and managed just four hits total for a .096 team batting average. Alfred, on the other hand, scored nine runs on 14 hits and batted .292 as a team. The Saxons came into the regional batting .376 as a team.
Wickwire was named the regional tournament's Most Outstanding Player after winning both her starts, including Saturday's victory over Rowan, a game in which she drove in the lone run. She was joined on the all-regional team by Maher, Chiavatti and freshman pitcher
Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) from Alfred; Hyland,
Morgan Smith and
Shilah Snead from Rowan;
Sammy Bost and
Emily Johnson from Lebanon Valley, and
Rachel Miller from Penn State-Behrend.
Alfred will take on Heidelberg University, winner of the SUNY Cortland Regional, in the best-of-three Super Regional, set for Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16, either at Alfred or Heidelberg. The NCAA will announce Super Regional tournament sites Sunday evening.