UNION, N.J. --- Junior pitcher Roxanne Keelan tossed a five-hit shutout to lead seventh seed Centenary (N.J.) College to a 3-0 upset victory over second seed Moravian College in the final game on the opening day of the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament Union N.J. Regional Thursday afternoon.
The Cyclones will play third seed Rowan University in a winner's bracket game at 4:00 p.m. Friday while the Greyhounds will face sixth seeded Misericordia University in the second elimination game of the tournament at 12:00 p.m.
For Moravian, it was the first time in the Greyhounds' last six trips to the NCAA Tournament that the squad had lost its opening round game. Moravian, which is making its 14th NCAA appearance in the last 15 years, is now 10-4 in the opening round and 32-28 overall in NCAA play.
Senior pitcher Jenna Carmon would get the start in the circle for the Greyhounds. She would give up a soft grounder to the pitcher, but leave the inning unscathed after two ground outs and a fly out.
Keelan pitched a perfect first inning by sitting the Moravian batters down in order.
Centenary would load the bases with three straight singles from freshman outfielder Samantha Belmonte, senior outfielder Caitlin Veverka and classmate shortstop Gabrielle Pellegrino to start the top of the third. Carmon would get the next two outs without allowing a run by getting to ground outs, and forcing the out at home plate. Junior first baseman Brianne McManus then delivered a clutch two-out, 3-2 count single up the middle to net two runs for the Cyclones. Carmon would get out of the inning after a ground out to the second baseman.
Junior first baseman Amanda Dizinno would get the Greyhounds first hit with a single down the right field line in the bottom of the third, but she was unable to advance any further as Keelan got out of the inning with her 2-0 lead intact.
The Cyclones added a run in the top of the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead. Senior outfielder Caitlin Veverka led off with a single, stole second and eventually scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by junior catcher Cara Montferrat on a diving catch by Moravian freshman center fielder Dior George.
Moravian threatened in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore outfielder Miranda Sergas hit a one-out double and sophomore catcher Cassie Ernst hit a two-out single, but Centenary would get out of the inning with its 3-0 lead intact.
Centenary had a 7-5 advantage in hits with Vererka going two-for-four and Pellegrino and McManus each going two-for-three. Dizinno was two-for-three to lead the Greyhounds.
Carmon allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking none.
Keelan did not allow a walk and struck out four batters in her five-hit shutout.
