ROCHESTER, N.Y. --- The No. 17 ranked and top seed Moravian College softball team entered Saturday needing to win one of two games to earn a trip to the NCAA Division III Super-Regionals, and the Greyhounds would need both games as host and second seed the University of Rochester used a walk off grand slam to win the opener 6-3 before Moravian rallied and won the if necessary game, 4-2, Saturday in the NCAA Division III Regionals.
The Hounds are now 37-6 on the season, the fifth time in school history the program has won at least 37 games in a season, and the squad is tied with three other teams at 37 wins while the 2004 squad set the school record with 40 victories. Moravian will not find out its opponent or site for the Super-Regionals that is scheduled for May 15-16 until sometime on Sunday. The Hounds will play the winner of the Greencastle, Indiana Regional that will have at least one game on Sunday.
The Greyhounds took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning in the first game Saturday at Rochester. Sophomore shortstop Lizzie Deutsch reached on an error to lead off the frame, and she moved to second when freshman catcher Janae Matos reached on a fielder's choice as she put down a sacrifice bunt. Freshman second baseman Megan Taylor would also put down a sacrifice bunt and a throwing error on the play allowed Deutsch to score. After an intentional walk to senior first baseman Jenn Dalickas, Moravian grounded into a pair of fielder's choices with the runners being thrown out at the plate. Sophomore left fielder Julie Siragusa followed with a two-RBI infield single as Dalickas and junior right fielder Mary Schlosbon.
Rochester scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull within a run before connected on a walk off grand slam in the seventh to force the if necessary game.
Freshman Amanda Carisone tossed the first 6.1 innings while freshman Josie Novak took the loss in the circle as she tossed the final two-thirds of an inning.
After a short break, the squads would return to the field with Moravian being the home team in the second game of the day. The Hounds would knock out eight hits in the second game with senior designated player Lizzie Mack going 3-for-3. Mack was one of four Greyhounds named to the Regional All-Tournament Team after the game, and she was joined by senior center fielder Dior George, Carisone and Novak, who was also selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the regional.
"There was momentum for UR," stated Head Coach John Byrne about entering the second game. "I was hoping Josie could shut them down. Lizzie Mack came up big – key hits when we needed them. We made the plays we had to."
Novak earned the victory in the circle in the final game, allowing two runs, just one earned, and she struck out four batters to improve to 18-5 on the season.
Moravian took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Dalickas drew her seventh walk of the regional to give her school records of 49 walks for the season and 86 in her career. Schlosbon moved her to second base with a ground out before George singled down the left field line to put runners on the corners. After the second out for the inning, Mack connected on an RBI single up the middle to plate Dalickas.
The Hounds pushed their lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Mack led off with a single and moved to second on an outfield error on the play. After moving to third on a ground out, Mack crossed the plate on an RBI single by Deutsch, who ended up on second base after another error. Matos followed with an RBI single down the left field line and Deutsch scored.
Moravian added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth to make the lead 4-0. Schlosbon led off with an infield single and stole second base before scoring on an RBI double to left field by Mack.
Schlosbon made a number of plays in the outfield throughout the day. "Mary's as good a right fielder as there is," stated Byrne. "With our pitchers, I need my best fielder in right field, not center. Not a lot of people will pull our pitchers."
The Yellowjackets scored a run in the top of the sixth and another in the top of the seventh; however, Rochester stranded 11 runners on base in the game as Moravian closed out the victory.
"I tell the players 'You have to make ordinary plays extraordinarily well.' When we do that and get sound pitching, we'll scratch it out," finished Byrne. "We're not going to score 10 runs on anyone day in and day out."
Photo by Aaron Raymond
