Wittenberg Softball Wins First NCAA Division III Tournament Game in School History

Coach Becky Hall and Senior Beth Walters share congratulations during the first NCAA tournament win in school history.

NEW CONCORD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University softball team hasn't been making history all season, just in the last week.

More was made on Friday on a hot and muggy afternoon at Muskingum College as the Tigers, seeded No. 4 in the Great Lakes Regional of the 2003 NCAA Division III Softball Tournament, came up with a 3-2 victory over fifth-seeded Cabrini College. It was the first national tournament win for the Tigers, who are making their second appearance in the "Big Dance" after bowing out in two straight games in 2000.

The win, earned after a two-hour rain delay and a week of anticipation following Wittenberg's first NCAC Tournament championship won May 3 at Denison University, moved the Tigers into a winner's bracket match-up with top-seeded and third-ranked Muskingum at approximately 5:30 p.m. today. The two teams squared off on the same field earlier this season and the Muskies, the champions of the Ohio Athletic Conference and the 2001 national champions, earned a pair of 7-0 victories.

Cabrini struck first in the game, picking up a run on three hits in the top of the second inning. But Wittenberg came right back to tie it in the bottom of the inning as senior Beth Walters (Westerville, Ohio/DeSales), who earlier this week was named NCAC Player of the Year, scored on a fielding error after a single by sophomore Jenny Meyer (Solon, Ohio/Hathaway Brown). After junior Carmen Montgomery (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) made a brilliant diving catch in the third inning, she played a key role in the game's decisive rally in the bottom half. After freshman Katelyn Beddow (Lexington, Ohio/Ashland) singled to lead off, Montgomery faked a bunt and poked a single to left field. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Kristen Hillebrand (Cincinnat, Ohio/St. Ursula) sacrifice bunt, sophomore Norah Gillam (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) and Walters came through with back-to-back RBI singles.

Gillam went the distance on the mound, improving her pitching record to 11-6 by scattering eight hits and allowing two earned runs. She came up big in the seventh inning, forcing a pop-up to freshman rightfielder Kelly Sasavicz (Massillon, Ohio/Massillon) with two outs and the tying run at third base.

The Tigers improved to 25-19 overall with the victory. Cabrini, champion of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference, dropped to 33-7 overall heading into Saturday's loser's bracket game of the double elimination tournament.

Norah Gillam picked up the pitching victory against Cabrini with a complete-game performance.

In the Tigers' second game of the day, and the third overall for the regional tournament following No. 2 seed Alma's 7-0 win over No. 3 seed Bethany, Wittenberg was overmatched by Muskingum 10-2. The game was 3-2 until a decisive fourth inning, in which the Muskies, who ran the table in the OAC this year and improved to 40-3 overall, sent 12 batters to the plate and seven of them came around the score. It was the third biggest run outburst in a single inning against Wittenberg in 2003, and the largest since Wheaton stunned the Tigers with a nine-spot during the Gene Cusic Tournament in March.

Wittenberg had managed to make things interesting in the top of the fourth, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to score a pair of runs. With two outs, sophomores Katie Carver (Enon, Ohio/Greenon) and Katie Niemeyer (Findlay, Ohio/Findlay) started a rally with back-to-back singles. Meyer reached on an error that allowed Carver to score the first run and then Sasavicz came up with an RBI single to drive in Niemeyer. Beddow was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but the runners were left stranded.

Wittenberg's next opponent is yet to be determined as Bethany, the No. 2 seed and 10th-ranked team in the nation, takes on Cabrini in an elimination game at 9 a.m. The Tigers face the winner of that game in another elimination game at 1 p.m. The winner of the 1 p.m. game advances to a 3 p.m. elimination game and the right to move on to the championship game on Sunday.

An NCAA Tournament that started out so with such promise ended in disappointment for the Tigers, who bowed out on Saturday with a 10-3 defeat at the hands of the same Cabrini team that they had defeated 3-2 a day earlier. It was a game that featured not one bolt of lightning, in the form of a three-hour weather delay due to thunderstorms in the second inning with Cabrini holding a tenuous 2-1 lead, but two as the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference champions struck for six runs in the fourth inning after Wittenberg had tied the game in the top half of the inning.

Wittenberg got off to a strong start in the top of the first inning as Hillebrand singled, stole second and third and scored on an error. After Cabrini rallied for two runs in the bottom of the inning off Gillam, the winner of the first NCAA Tournament game in school history Friday, the game was delayed as a storm front passed through Central Ohio. When play resumed, Wittenberg got on the board next as Montgomery singled home Sasavicz in the top of the fourth. But Cabrini started the bottom of the inning off with a home run and went on to send 10 batters to the plate, scoring six of them to take an insurmountable lead.

Montgomery drove in another run later in the game and finished with two RBI, while Hillebrand and Sasavicz each paced the offense with two hits and a run scored. Sasavicz was the lone Tiger player to be named to the Great Lakes Regional All-Tournament Team.

Written by: Ryan Maurer