Arcadia Box Score | LVC Box Score
Grantham, PA — Considering it was her first time playing in a collegiate post-season, freshman Lauren Seneca had a very good day Friday.
Make that a very, very, very good day.
The first-year shortstop hit a pair of homers in Messiah's MAC Commonwealth Tournament-opening 8-0 win over Arcadia University Friday morning, then blasted a game-winning, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Falcons escape with a 6-5 win over Lebanon Valley College as the sun set — a pair of wins that moved Messiah into the league championship game Saturday.
It was an incredible ending to a day which saw a significant rain delay, a Messiah home run derby, another no-hitter from freshman pitching star Jessica Rhoads and a scary moment that nearly led to a Falcons' loss. That's not to mention a controversial interference call on Seneca that occurred in the LVC game — a call that allowed the Dutchmen's seventh-inning, game-tying run to score.
No wonder there nearly wasn't enough daylight to get it all in.
"Wow," Messiah head coach Amy Weaver said late Friday night. "I'm going to need some time to decompress after all of this."
The double-elimination tournament started honestly enough, as top-seeded Messiah (34-4) made quick work of fourth-seeded Arcadia (27-10). Rhoads' eighth complete-game no-hitter of the year kept the Knights' offense off balance, while four Messiah dingers helped truncate the game to just six innings.
Seneca drove in three of the Falcons' scores off her fifth and sixth homers of the season, while Rhoads added a solo shot in the second and junior Abby Bergakker one in the sixth. Freshman Jaclyn Merkel blasted a double to drive in two, while Rhoads (20-1) struck out 13 Knights' batters in yet another dominating performance in the pitching circle.
As rain began to fall heavily toward the very end of that contest, the day's second game — between second-seeded LVC and third-seeded Widener University — was postponed for over two hours.
When those teams finally took to a dampened field, it was LVC that provided the drama, scoring the game's only run off a leadoff double and subsequent sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
Friday's Game Three match-up was set.
The drama would only increase from there.
Rhoads again started in the pitching circle for Messiah, tossing a no-hitter through six complete innings — a performance that allowed the Falcons to capture a 5-1 lead.
Messiah got on the board in the home half of the fourth inning thanks to a double from Rhoads and a sacrifice fly from Bergakker. A three-run homer from senior Amy Bowie in the sixth helped offset LVC's lone run in the top of the inning, and Rhoads whittled the Dutchmen down to their final strike after giving up two hits — and a run — in the top of the seventh.
But that's when it happened.
Lebanon Valley's Chelsea Kehr ripped a line drive right back to Rhoads, hitting Messiah's ace in the meat of her throwing hand. Ruled an infield single, the hit put LVC runners on first and second, but more importantly had taken Rhoads out of the game.
As she walked off the field being looked at by Messiah's athletic training staff, Rhoads was clearly finished.
Junior Megan Rice would come on to pitch.
"Megan is a great pitcher, but she's a starter, not a reliever," said Alex Quigley, Messiah pitching coach. "That's a really tough position to put a pitcher in when they're not used to being there. But, it was our only real option."
With sophomore and usual closer Corinn Eby out due to being hit with a ball in practice earlier in the week, Rice would be the Falcons' hope.
But momentum was clearly on the side of LVC.
A streaking double from the Dutchmen's Chelsea Artz stayed just inches fair down the third base line, scoring two more and making it a 5-4 ballgame.
What happened next was incredibly bizarre.
With Artz perched at second, LVC's Kerri Datres hit a blooper toward Seneca at shortstop. As Seneca backpedaled to make a play on the ball, she collided with Artz, who was attempting to run to third base.
As both players lie in the dirt, fans from both sides of the field became incredibly vocal. The LVC faithful wanted an interference call on Seneca; Messiah's fans wanted one called on Artz.
The umpires met for what seemed like an eternity.
They elected to send Artz home for the tying run, citing interference on Seneca.
"Obviously, we disagreed with that judgment call," Weaver said. "But we couldn't dwell on it. (LVC) had a runner on base and had just tied the game. We needed to focus on the things we could control."
Thankfully, Rice did. The junior right-hander struck out LVC's Katie DeJulio to retire the side, giving Messiah new life.
As dusk approached in the bottom of the ninth, the Falcons made use of it.
A leadoff walk from Bergakker was pushed to second on a sac bunt from Bowie, and junior Nicole Adams drew another walk. When Seneca came to the plate, the Falcons' seven-hole batter looked like a clean-up hitter. Seneca hit a long blast to deep center field, allowing Bergakker to score easily from second.
A mob scene broke out, as Messiah players quickly gathered around Seneca and Rice — two heroes in a game filled with them.
"It took everyone for us to get this win," Weaver said. "I can't say enough about our girls' mental toughness. When Jess went out of the game, we could have easily packed it in. But Megan came in and really found a groove, and we got some timely hits and some good at-bats when we needed them. Needless to say, it was a huge, huge win for us."
Rice (13-1) collected the pitching win, striking out four of the 10 batters she faced, allowing LVC just one base runner in its half of the eighth and ninth innings. Seneca's game-winning hit was her first of the contest, while Bowie's sixth-inning blast brought home three. Junior Lindsay Hall finished a game-best 2-3; Rhoads and Merkel both provided doubles.
After the game, the attention quickly turned to Rhoads and the status of her right hand. Messiah athletic training officials reported that x-rays came back negative, and Rhoads had suffered only a deep bruise.
It is questionable whether or not she'll be able to play for the rest of the MAC Commonwealth Championships. Messiah will next play at 1 p.m. Saturday, against an opponent yet to be determined. Complete tournament schedule and updated scores are available at the official MAC Commonwealth Tournament website.
