Linfield defeats Alfred at NCAA softball championships
SALEM, VA – The Alfred University softball team dropped an 8-0 five-inning decision to Linfield College in the Saxons' opening game at the NCAA Division III championship tournament Thursday afternoon at Moyer Athletic Complex in Salem, VA.
The Saxons (40-6) will take on Kean University in an elimination game at 11:05 a.m. Friday. Kean was a 1-0 loser to Texas-Tyler in Thursday's first game. Linfield (38-13) moves on to play Texas-Tyler at 4 p.m. Friday.
Linfield took a 2-0 lead in the second when
Erin Tauscher reached on a two-out single and came in to score when the next batter,
McKenna Spieth, belted the first pitch she saw over the left field fence for a two-run homerun.
AU had a chance to score an inning earlier, when junior second baseman
Dana Torchia (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock Twp.) and senior pitcher
Alison Wickwire (Towanda, PA/Towanda) stroked consecutive two-out singles, but Linfield pitcher
Montana McNealy struck out the next batter to end the threat.
Linfield increased their lead to 8-0 in the third. The Wildcats scored four runs before the Saxons recorded an out and were aided by three AU errors resulting in three unearned runs. Freshman
Kerri Keeler (Jamesville, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt) relieved Wickwire and got one out before giving up a two-run homerun to Tauscher.
AU loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth but couldn't score. Keeler led off with a single and moved to third on a double down the left field line off the bat of junior shortstop
Nicole Maher (Newark, DE/Caravel Academy). After a groundout, sophomore first baseman
Sophia Chiavatti (Tustin, CA/Foothill) reached first after a strikeout and passed ball to load the bases, but McNealy got the next two batters on a strikeout and lineout to escape the jam.
The Saxons again packed the sacks in the fifth. Junior outfielder
Samantha Jauregui (Lindsay, CA/Lindsay) led off with a single off Linfield reliever
Brooke Chapman and one out later moved to second on an infield single by Torchia. Wickwire singled to center to load the bases before Chapman struck out Maher and got junior
Jasmine Picini (Alexandria, VA/West Potomac) to line out to center to end the game.
AU and Linfield both had eight hits as a team, with Alfred leaving nine runners on base to Linfield's two. Torchia and Wickwire had two hits to lead Alfred, while Cheyenne Fletcher and Tauscher each had two hits for the Wildcats.
McNealy earned the win for Linfield, allowing five hits and striking out six in four shutout innings. Chapman allowed three hits in her only inning of work, fanning two Saxon batters. Wickwire allowed seven runs on six hits, striking out two; Keeler gave up one run on two hits and struck out five over three innings.
If Alfred can beat Kean Friday morning, the Saxons would play another elimination game, at 4 p.m. Saturday, against the loser of Friday's Linfield/Texas-Tyler matchup.