SALISBURY, Md. - The No. 19 Salisbury University softball team advanced to the Capital Athletic Conference championship game with a 3-0 victory over second-seed University of Mary Washington on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 175 at Sea Gull Field. The top-seeded Sea Gulls (29-4) have won the last 12 conference titles and 13 overall.

Salisbury used a pair of first inning runs and a terrific pitching performance to win its 25th consecutive game. The Sea Gulls will play either Mary Washington or third-seed York (Pa.) College at Noon tomorrow (Sunday, April 19) for the title. UMW and York will play the 10 a.m. game on Sunday as the winner will advance to the championship round. SU will have two chances to win the title as the Sea Gulls have not lost a game in the double-elimination tournament while the other two teams have one loss apiece.

The Eagles (24-15-1) had an opportunity in the top of first inning to score as UMW's Morgan Lamon doubled to left center with one out. SU starting pitcher Kelsey Mills (nine strikeouts) struck out the next batter before she gave up a single to Kaitlin Petrella (2-for-3). Mills was able to get out of the jam as she forced a pop fly out from Amanda Adams to end the inning.

SU got things started off with a pair of singles by juniors Kelly Waskewicz and Brittany Lounge (2-for-3) in the bottom half of the first inning. The two moved up one base after a sacrifice bunt by junior catcher Lauren Brenneman. Senior second baseman Stacey Malarkey (one RBI) plated Waskewicz with a RBI-single as Lounge advanced to third. Malarkey stole second base. Junior first baseman Ali Ritter (two RBIs) grounded out to the shortstop but not before Lounge slid past Eagle catcher Kim Olinger to put SU up 2-0.

From that point on the game turned into a pitcher's duel between Mills (12-2) and UMW senior Kirsten Rowell (18-6). Both pitchers went the distance for their respective clubs. Mills pitched the complete game shutout for SU as she allowed only four hits and walked none. Rowell suffered the loss as she allowed three runs on seven hits as she struck out six and walked none in six innings of work.

Mary Washington had an opportunity to score in the top of the fourth inning as Petrella reached on an error with no outs. Petrella moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third base after a ground out to the pitcher. Mills worked her way out of the inning as she struck out the next batter.

The Sea Gulls would put one more run on the scoreboard in the bottom of sixth inning. Brenneman started the inning off with a single to center field. She moved over on a sacrifice bunt by Malarkey and later moved to third on a wild pitch. Ritter picked up her second RBI of the game with another single.

In other CAC tournament action on Saturday at SU the third-seed Spartans won two games as York beat fifth-seed Wesley 7-1 to start the day and ended the day with a 6-0 shutout against fourth-seed Hood. The Blazers beat sixth-seed Stevenson 1-0 in nine innings in the second game of the day.

2009 CAC Softball Tournament

Sunday, April 19
Game 5: #3 York (3-1) vs. #2 Mary Washington (1-1), 10 am | Live Stats
Game 6: Game 1 winner vs. #1 Salisbury (2-0), Noon | Live Stats
Game 7: If necessary, same teams as Game 6, 2 pm | Live Stats

Saturday, April 18
Game 4: #3 York 6, #4 Hood 0 | Box Score
Game 3: #1 Salisbury 3, #2 Mary Washington 0 | Box Score
Game 2: #4 Hood 1, #6 Stevenson 0 (F/9) | Box Score
Game 1: #3 York 7, #5 Wesley 1 | Box Score