Softball Eliminated From NCAA Division III Championship
ELMS COLLEGE
ELIMINATED FROM
NCAA DIVISION III SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
REGIONAL
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Click here for Elms College/Cortland box score
Click here for Elms College/Keuka box score
CORTLAND, NY, May 11, 2007 - Elms College senior shortstop Jen LeDoux (Easthampton, MA) went 2 for 3 and junior first baseman Christina Giampetruzzi (Westfield, MA) extended her hitting streak to 22 games, but Keuka College senior pitcher Marianne Wallace (Bath, NY) threw a complete-game, five-hitter to help the Storm outlast the Blazers 3-0 in 10 innings of Friday's NCAA Division III Softball Championship Regional at Dragon Field.
Elms College, which was defeated 9-1 earlier in the day by No. 15 Cortland State, was eliminated from the regional and finished its season 18-13 overall.
Against Keuka, the Blazers nearly won the game into the ninth when junior second baseman Karyn Palomba (Enfield, CT) smacked a one-out double down the left field line.
Giampetruzzi, hitless in three previous at-bats, delivered a single to center field, but Palomba was thrown out at home on the play by Keuka senior center fielder Amanda McConnell (Bath, NY) to preserve the scoreless deadlock.
With the game still scoreless in the top of the 10th, Keuka senior first baseman Sarah Wehnau (Averill Park, NY) delivered a RBI single and senior pitcher Marianne Wallace (Bath, NY) followed with a two-run double to seal the victory.
Wallace finished with eight strikeouts to earn her 12th win of the year for the Storm.
Junior pitcher Tammie Tremblay (Springfield, MA) freshman pitcher Alyssa Skewes (Ellington, CT) were brilliant for the Blazers, as the two combined to allow no earned runs on nine hits over the 10 innings.
In the Blazers' first game of the morning, Giampetruzzi delivered a RBI single, but Cortland State plated eight runs in the first three innings to post the 9-1 win.
Cortland (36-8), ranked 15th-nationally in last week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division III Poll, advanced into the winner's bracket its victory over the Blazers.
The Red Dragons (36-8) had plated a pair of runs in the first and three more in the second to jump out to a 5-0 lead when heavy rain and lightning forced the suspension of play on Thursday afternoon.
Cortland then picked up right where it left off on Friday, as it scored three more runs in the third on a RBI single by senior second baseman Stefanie Cola (Binghamton, NY), senior left fielder Kate Yaun's (Liberty, NY) RBI groundout, and a wild pitch.
Senior pitcher Ang D'Amboise (Ballston Lake, NY) retired the first 10 batters in order before sophomore left fielder Kerrie Bowden (Chicopee, MA) broke up the perfect-game bid with a single to left field.
Giampetruzzi then roped a single down the left field line to plate Bowden with the Blazers' lone run.
D'Amboise struck out four and allowed just two hits to post her 17th win of the year for Cortland.