SALISBURY, Md. – Two extra innings were no sweat for the 11th-ranked Salisbury University softball team, who slugged three home runs in the top of the ninth to outlast the Mount Union Purple Raiders, 5-3, in the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament regionals on Friday afternoon at Margie Knight Sea Gull Softball Stadium.
The Sea Gulls will now advance to the regional championship round on Saturday at 11 a.m. SU will face the winner of Friday's 4 p.m. game and need to win just once to claim the regional title.
The teams traded a run each in the opening frame.
Emily Challender reached on an error to lead off the top of the first and scored on a
Carrie Jacoby two-out RBI single. Sydney Mercer answered for UMU in the home first with a leadoff home run to bring it all square at 1-1.
From there the pitchers took center stage as
Sydney Adolfson and Kendyll Cahill matched each other punch-for-punch for seven consecutive scoreless innings. Both teams had their chances, stranding runners on base in 10 of the combined 14 half-innings, as Adolfson and Cahill kept the spotlight on the circle as the game moved into extras.
Salisbury finally cracked Cahill in a big way in the ninth.
Madison Lepeonka notched a pinch-hit single with one out, then
Karlie Wolfe came up to pinch hit and belted a two-run homer down the left field line. Two batter later Challender went yard to left center, and
Jillian Dawson made it back-to-back jacks with a solo blast to right, putting the Sea Gulls on top 5-1.
The Purple Raiders did not go down quietly in the bottom of the ninth as Kaitlyn Culver smashed a two-out two-run homer, but Adolfson forced Kyndall Hahn to tap out to her the circle to wrap up a 5-3 result and send SU into the regional final.
GAME NOTES
- Emily Challender paced the Sea Gull bats from the top of the lineup, going 2-for-5 with a double, home run, and two runs scored.
- Jillian Dawson finished 3-for-4 with a solo blast, going back-to-back with Challender for the first long ball of her Sea Gull career in her 150th game and 333rd at-bat.
- Karlie Wolfe swung the game in SU's favor with a go-ahead pinch-hit two-run shot to open the scoring in the ninth.
- Sydney Adolfson (20-3) won her 20th game of the year by going the distance, giving up three runs on eight hits over nine innings with one walk and five strikeouts on 91 pitches. Adolfson has now pitched beyond the regulation seven innings three times this season.
The Sea Gulls will play for a regional championship on Saturday, with the first game of the finals slated for 11 a.m. at Margie Knight Stadium. Salisbury will face either Mount Union or the winner of Friday's Pfeiffer-Westminster (Pa.) contest needing to win one game to capture the title. A loss would force a winner-take-all game at 1:30 p.m.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming) and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 205 conference championships, and have produced 51 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
