Salem, VA - Messiah College softball fought hard, surprised a few, and came close to completing their dream season before finishing as the NCAA Division III National Runner-Up this afternoon in sourthern Virgina. The Patriots of the University of Texas at Tyler won the first two games of a best-of-three series—albeit in very different ways—by 3-0 and 7-0 scores, respectively.

In Game One softball proved yet again to be a game of inches, and in Game Two the Patriots' vaulted offense and shutdown pitching led them to a convincing win.

The National Championship was the first in program history for UT-Tyler (49-5). In this weekend's Softball Championships the Patriots outscored their opponents 30-2 across six games.

Messiah (47-6) fell just short of their first National Championship since 2009. Their 47 wins is a new program record, four more wins than they had in 2009.

Game One - UT-Tyler 3, Messiah 0
Texas-Tyler took advantage of two Messiah errors and a very favorable call with the bases loaded to rally for three unearned runs in the seventh and win 3-0 over the Falcons in Game One of the NCAA Division III Championship Series. The win moves the No. 1-ranked Patriots to within one win of the National Championship, with No. 11 Messiah needing to win Game Two to force a winner-take-all Game Three tomorrow.

The game was scoreless into the seventh inning when Kaylee Prather (leadoff single) eventually moved to third on a sac bunt and wild pitch. With one out, a grounder to Amanda Jones at short was bobbled and she did not recover to get the runner at first. Three-hole hitter Cheyenne Thompson then dribbled a 2-2 pitch to Brooke Pompeo at third, but her throw across was ruled to pull Erin Cressman off the bag at first, even as it appeared that her foot was securely on the base. Nevertheless, the second-straight error by the Falcons loaded the bases.

Cleanup hitter Vanessa Carrizales followed and drilled a first-pitch liner to Emily Quatrale at second base, and Quatrale slid in for the catch just above the dirt. She recovered to her knees and threw to Jones at second to double-off Raven Rodriguez, who had broke to third base on contact. Messiah jumped in celebration thinking they escaped the jam, but the second base umpire ruled that Quatrale did not snag the liner in the air. Coach Amy Weaver quickly came out to argue, but the umpire crew did not overturn the call on the field and the Patriots' run stood.

Things only got worse when KK Stevens and Bianca Van Vlerah followed with RBI singles to make it 3-0. Messiah got a runner on base in their final at-bat, but UT-Tyler quickly recorded the third out to seal the win.

The two errors and hard-luck call at second soured what was a terrific game to that point, even as Messiah played with fire in nearly every defensive inning. The Patriots stranded eight batters through the first six innings, including seven in scoring position. They even stranded a runner at third in each of the first five innings.

In the third inning Texas-Tyler seemed assured of the game's first run, but two defensive gems by Amanda Jones kept them off the board. The first came when Rodriguez reached by way of an infield single off Pompeo's glove at third. The ball dribbled into foul territory and behind the bag, and Rodriguez took a wide turn toward second base. Jones backed up the play and fired a bullet to Cressman at first, with the tab just beating Rodriguez's dive.

That play was even more significant when Thompson (single) and Carrizales (double) followed with hard hits. Carrizales' double was a rocket down the left field line, and Thompson was sent home on the play. Carrie Fix ran it down deep in the corner and fired to Jones for the relay, and her throw home was a rope to the glove of Becky Notte for the diving tag.

A flyout to Fix ended the threat.

In the fourth Courtney Allen allowed a leadoff single but then made a terrific play on a sac bunt to get one out. Weaver then went to Yannetti, and she recorded two quick ground outs to end the frame. Yannetti put a single runner on base in both the fifth and sixth innings, but was otherwise solid in relief.

In the seventh Messiah could not hold down the Patriots' powerful lineup any longer. Lexi Ackroyd lead off the frame with a sinking line drive to left that Carrie Fix almost caught. She raced in and dove forward, but the ball hit off her wrist to set up the rally for UT-Tyler.

The Falcons managed just four hits against Kelsie Batten, who was otherwise impressive. She registered a career-high 10 strikeouts against just two walks in seven innings. Becky Notte finished 2-3 to lead the Falcons' attack, with both of her hits being infield singles.

Allen went 3.1 innings in the start and allowed six hits and no walks. Yannetti went 3.2 frames and allowed five hits, no walks, and the three unearned runs.

Game Two - UT-Tyler 7, Messiah 0
The Patriots of UT-Tyler scored five runs in the third inning and held the Falcons to just two hits in a National Championship-clinching win over Messiah. The win marked UT-Tyler's first-ever NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
 
Alaina Kissinger went 4.1 innings in the start to earn the win. She struck out five and walked one while allowing both Messiah hits. Kelsie Batten finished the game with 2.2 perfect innings of relief.
 
Like Game One, Messiah and UT-Tyler traded zeroes early in their separate attempts to score first. Messiah did put two runners on base in the first inning, but Becky Notte and Amanda Jones each struck out swinging to end the threat.
 
In the third, UT-Tyler scored five runs to grab control of the game.
 
The inning started ominously when Erin Cressman couldn't make an over-the-shoulder catch on a pop-up by Jackie Mendez down the first base line. The play was by no way routine, but on the next pitch Mendez walked to begin the rally. Kaylee Prather followed with a bunt single, and Fix's errant throw to Cressman allowed Ackroyd to hustle to third base. On an 0-1 pitch Raven Rodriguez drilled a long double to left center to make it 1-0 and put runners on second and third.
 
Yannetti then came into the circle, but the Patriots weren't done. Cheyenne Thompson laid off a very close 3-2 pitch for a walk to load the bases and, in a 2-2 count, Vanessa Carrizales laced a game-changing double past the dive of Quatrale at second to clear the bases. A sixth- and seventh-straight Patriot then reached base when KK Stevens (walk) and Bianca Van Vlerah single) reloaded the bases. Messiah finally recorded an out when Quatrale fielded a grounder and came home for the out, but Ackroyd knocked a single up the middle to make it 5-0.
 
Two batters later the Falcons got out of it, but the damage was done. In total the Patriots sent 11 batters to the plate, collected five hits, and scored five funs.
 
Messiah put runners on base in their very next at-bat, and they came close to putting two runs on board when Amanda Jones drilled a ball down the left field line. But her shot went foul, and Messiah couldn't answer their opponent's outburst.

In the fifth Messiah again put two runners on base, and a sac bunt by Fix put them both into scoring position with one out. But once again Messiah couldn't get on the board as Pompeo (strikeout) and Allen (ground out) came up short.
 
In the sixth inning the Patriots added two runs of insurance. Kaylee Prather started it off with a long triple to right field, and she scored immediately on a sac fly by Raven Rodridguez. One batter later Carrizales capped off her big day with a solo home run to straightaway center.
 
In the seventh inning Messiah went down in order as the Patriots raced to the circle to celebrate their first-ever Division III Softball Championship.
 
Carrie Fix took the loss for Messiah after going two innings and allowed three earned runs. Yannetti relieved but did not record an out before Allen finished the final four innings. Both Yannetti and Allen were charged with two earned runs.

Brooke Pompeo, Erin Cressman, and Madelyn Yannetti were each named to the Softball Championships All-Tournament Team, while Patriots senior pitcher Kelsie Batten was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
 
As mentioned, this season included a program record number of wins (47). Additionally, the senior class of Allen, Notte, Pompeo, and Tina Lehman finished with a four-year mark of 132-41 (.763).