Box Score
By Bryn Swartz, GoMessiah.com reporter
Ithaca, NY — The first day of the NCAA Regional action came and went Thursday at Ithaca College's Kostrinsky Field.
It's safe to say Messiah passed its first challenge.
Behind a typically strong outing from junior pitcher Jess Rhoads, the top-seeded Falcons emerged victorious by an 8-3 score against Muhlenberg College, pounding out 12 hits and coming back from a one-run deficit in the third inning to remain in the winner's bracket of the eight-team, double-elimination tourney.
Messiah (36-5) advances to play St. John Fisher College Friday at 2:30 p.m., after the fifth-seeded Cardinals upended Western Connecticut State University by a 1-0 score Thursday afternoon.
Against the Mules, Rhoads (13-1) was solid, improving her NCAA post-season record to 11-1 behind 11 strikeouts and just two walks in six innings. Despite boasting a 68-6 career record entering the day, Messiah head coach Amy Weaver said the decision to pitch the injury-plagued All-American was not an easy one.
"We did consider (sophomore) Jocelyn (Hickey),” Weaver said. “We stayed up really late trying to decide, but we eventually decided that we wanted to start as strong as possible so we went with Jess in today's game."
Rhoads made Weaver's decision look like the right one, especially in the top of the first when she struck out all three hitters she faced, two of them swinging.
The Falcons helped out Rhoads with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, as junior Ashley Lehman and freshman Sara Seneca led off the game with a pair of singles. Junior Jacki Merkel sacrificed both hitters over, and Rhoads followed with an RBI groundout, scoring Lehman. Sophomore Stephanie Schell did the same, driving in Seneca.
Messiah collected a pair of singles and a walk in the second but could not score a run, thanks to an unfortunate base running mistake.
In the top of the third, Muhlenberg (25-16) benefited from a walk and a throwing error, scoring a trio of runs on a two-out triple by senior Ashley Brewer and a single by freshman Kelly Kline. They led 3-2 after two and a half innings, putting the Falcons — which entered the morning on a 10-game winning streak — in unfamiliar territory.
Weaver said 'worried' was not an appropriate adjective.
Annoyed was a better choice.
"I wasn't nervous,” she said. “I was mad because we made errors the inning before. We couldn't get a bunt down and we had a base running mistake, and then we made an error in the field and they scored three from it. We matched up really well with their pitcher, and I felt like we were going to keep getting to her."
Weaver's prediction couldn't have been any more true. The Falcons immediately scored a pair in the bottom of the third on a single by Rhoads, a sacrifice bunt by Schell, a fielding error by Muhlenberg and a sacrifice fly by junior Jess Brown, taking a 4-3 lead.
The designated home team increased its lead to 6-3 with two more in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double by freshman Krista Ammon and an RBI single by junior Laurem Seneca.
Weaver again debated over Rhoads — considering pulling her — but elected to leave her in for just one more inning.
"I was hoping we would score a few more runs earlier so I could take Jess out after four or five innings," Weaver said. “Instead, we left her in for a bit longer.”
The Falcons' bats came through with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, completely putting the game away. The biggest blow came from Rhoads herself, who delivered a big, two-run home run to give the Falcons an 8-3 lead with just an inning to play — her first dinger of the 2011 season.
At that point, Weaver removed Rhoads from the game, inserting freshman Sara Dietrich, who easily closed out Muhlenberg College in the bottom of the seventh to give the Falcons a victory in the First Round of NCAA Regional play.
The star of the game was Rhoads, who came through not just on the pitching circle but at the plate as well. She pitched six strong frame, allowing two hits and two walks and striking out 11. She allowed three runs, all unearned, and in the process lowered her earned run average to a virtually invisible 0.18. At the plate, she collected a single, walk and homer, driving in three.
It was a day reminiscent of her performance almost a year ago to the day, when Rhoads kept the team in the game with her pitching, and delivered a two-run, game-winning walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning to stun third-ranked Salisbury University, 5-4.
Messiah — which moved up two spots in this week's NFCA Top 25 Poll to #11 — facet St. John Fisher (29-12-1) Friday. Weaver said she has already decided to start Hickey, who has turned in a pretty impressive season in the pitching circle in her own right — 12-2 overall with a 1.41 ERA.
Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.
