Virginia Wesleyan won its home regional with relative ease in the NCAA Division III Tournament, defeating Messiah 12-4 Saturday to complete a 3-0 run through the double-elimination bracket.
The Marlins (44-2-1), ranked fifth nationally before the 64-team field was unveiled, will meet Gettysburg in a round-of-16 Super Regional best-of-three series next week.
The Marlins trailed their Pennsylvania foes 2-0 before a six-run second inning gave them a 6-2 lead. A four-run third put them ahead 10-3, and a two-run fifth allowed them to end the game early via the eight-run rule.
VWU starter Lauren Bible threw 20 pitches without getting an out, but Hannah Hearl entered in relief and pitched the rest of the game for the win.
Mackenzie Myers’ two-run homer tied the score in the second inning. Morgan Tucker drove in three runs for VWU. Laci Campbell drove in three without a hit, thanks to a fielder’s-choice grounder, being plunked by a pitch with the bases loaded, and a game-ending sacrifice fly.
Randolph-Macon 6, Christopher Newport 2: Pitcher Gracie Ellis and the 24th-ranked Yellow Jackets (37-11) went 3-0 in the Newport News Regional to advance to a Super Regional against Moravian of Pennsylvania.
Half of the losses this season for CNU (37-6), which had climbed to No. 2 in Division III, were to Ellis, a New Kent High graduate named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player.
Candace Slaw tripled and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first to put CNU ahead 1-0, giving her school season records of 77 hits and 64 runs, and she finished with a CNU-record .517 batting average.
Randolph-Macon scored twice in the bottom of the first off Jamie Martin, then Blayne Talley hit a solo homer in the second. Tori Powell’s three-run homer in the third made it 6-1.
Natalie Quinlan’s homer in the seventh made it 6-2, and the Captains got two runners on base before a pop fly to shortstop ended the game. CNU’s Sammy Drew, Brooke Greaver and Simone Thompson made the all-tournament team.
Division I
Liberty 8, No. 1 Texas A&M 5: The Flames pulled off perhaps the most noteworthy victory of the Division I tourney’s first weekend, dumping the Aggies into the losers’ bracket at the Bryan-College Station Regional.
Starting at 4 p.m. Eastern Sunday, Liberty will have two chances to advance to a Super Regional.
The Flames trailed 4-0 after two innings and 5-3 after three, but they stunned the Aggies and their fans with a five-run sixth and held on.
Paige Doerr hit a two-run homer in the LU third. The Flames got a run in the sixth on a passed ball before Alyssa Henault’s two-run single and KK Madrey’s two-run homer. Madrey was 3 for 3 and Henault 2 for 3.
Virginia 12, Elon 0: Eden Bigham pitched five shutout innings, and the offense surged late as the Cavaliers ousted the Phoenix (33-21) to improve to 1-1 at the Columbia Regional and stay in the event.
UVA went ahead 1-0 in the first inning on Jade Hylton’s leadoff home run. The Cavaliers (38-18) scored five in the fifth, thanks to RBI singles by Kassidy Hudson and Kelly Ayer, Bella Cabral’s sacrifice fly and Macee Eaton’s two-run double.
An Eaton two-run homer sparked a six-run seventh, and Savanah Henley finished the victory by pitching two shutout innings.
North Florida 6, Virginia 5: The Cavaliers led 5-1 after 5 1/2 innings but suffered a painful end to their season, yielding three runs to the Ospreys in the sixth and two in the seventh. It was UNF’s second victory over UVA in two days.
Chloe Culp’s RBI double, Kirsten Caravaca’s sacrifice fly and a run-scoring wild pitch cut UVA’s edge to 5-4 in the sixth.
Mackenzie Woods led off the UNF seventh with a tying home run against Eden Bigham. After a walk and an intentional walk, Culp singled up the middle to drive in the winning run.
UVA’s Jade Hylton was 2 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs, and Bella Cabral was 2 for 3 with a run and two RBIs.
The Ospreys need to beat the Gamecocks twice to keep South Carolina from advancing to a Super Regional.
No. 15 Alabama 4, Virginia Tech 3: The Crimson Tide (38-21) rallied to send the Hokies (42-11) into the losers’ bracket.
Tech went ahead 2-0 in the first inning on RBI hits by Bre Beck and Emily LeGette, only to see the Tide score four runs combined in the second through fourth innings against starter Emma Mazzarone. The third inning included Kali Heivilin’s two-run homer.
Kylie Aldridge’s homer in the fifth cut the Hokies’ deficit to 4-3, but they couldn’t pull even.
Virginia Tech 11, Belmont 1: After losing to Alabama, Tech bounced back for a dominant victory to eliminate Belmont.
Freshman Jordan Lynch hit two home runs, Cori McMillan belted her 32nd home run of the season, and Trinity Martin and Emily LeGette also went deep for Tech, which won by the mercy rule in six innings. Lynch has 19 homers for the Hokies, one of the country’s top home-run-hitting teams.
Sophie Kleiman got the victory, limiting Belmont to three hits and a run in five innings. The Hokies will face Alabama at 2 p.m. Sunday, needing a pair of victories to advance to a Super Regional.
