Fisher Survives Williams; Will Play for NCAA Championship
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – For the first time in program history, the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College softball team will play in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship series as the No. 8 Cardinals defeated Williams College, 4-3, on Sunday at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Fisher, which has now won its last nine games, moved to 44-6 with the decision while Williams had its season come to a close with a final mark of 38-13.
Lindsey Thayer moved to 31-5 with the win after allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. The junior pitcher struck out 10 in the win.
After exchanging zeroes over the first two innings, Fisher broke through in the home half of the third inning with three runs on four hits to open up a three-run lead.
Kristina Balsano got thing started with an infield single before
Julia Sortisio moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt.
Katie Mazierski kept the momentum going after beating out an infield single to third to put two on with one away.
Ashley Prince stepped in and ripped a double down the left field line that scored Balsano before
Sarah Kubik belted a two-run single up the middle and moved into scoring position on the play to make it 3-0 in Fisher's favor. The Cardinals hoped for more after loading the bases, but the Ephs were well positioned in the outfield to snag the final out.
In the top of the fifth, Williams threatened after putting two on with a single and a walk before an out had been recorded. The Cardinals buckled down, however, and escaped the inning without surrendering a run courtesy of a fly out to center field followed by a strikeout and a lineout to Kubik to keep it at 3-0.
Fisher struck again in the bottom of the fifth as Kubik picked up her third RBI of the afternoon with a solo shot over the center field fence to make it 4-0. As the inning continued, Fisher put three more runners on as
Karlie Neale singled to left and
Jessica Sardina and
Emma Savas each reached after being hit by a pitch, but Williams limited the damage to just one run heading to the sixth.
Williams got on the board in the top of the sixth with one run on one hit to make it a 4-1 game. The Ephs drew a base on balls with one out before narrowly beating out a fielder's choice. With two outs and one on, Williams smacked a double to the gap in left center field that plated one, but that was all it would muster as Thayer picked up another strikeout to keep it at a three-run margin.
In the top of the seventh, needing just three outs and holding a multi-run lead, Fisher found itself in a fight as Williams led off the inning with a walk followed by back-to-back singles to load the bases with no outs. With the go-ahead run at the plate, Thayer notched a strikeout, but the next hitter smacked a two-run single up the middle to pull the Ephs to within one run, 4-3. The Ephs had runners at the corners and just one out, but Thayer got some help from her teammates as Kubik squeezed a pop up in foul territory before Sortisio snagged a line out in center to give Fisher the hard-fought win.
As a team, Fisher collected six hits led by Kubik who went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Mazierski, Prince, Neale and Balsano rounded out the hitting with one hit apiece.
The Cardinals will now play a best-of-three series for an NCAA Division III Softball Championship at 1 p.m. CST (2 p.m. EST) on Monday against the nation's top-ranked team, Virginia Wesleyan.
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