Newport News, VA - No. 11 Messiah College scored four first-inning runs and Courtney Allen struck out nine batters in a 5-4 win over Ferrum College in Game One of the NCAA Regionals at Christopher Newport. The win pushed Messiah to 40-3 this season, but more importantly made them 1-0 in the three-team Regional. They will next play tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. against Christopher Newport. Ferrum and the Captains will play Game Two this afternoon.
 
Messiah, playing as the visiting team on the scoreboard, got off to a fast start when Carrie Fix walked and Brooke Pompeo singled on a bunt to put two runners on. Allen bunted them both into scoring position, and Becky Notte followed with a first-pitch run-scoring single up the middle. Amanda Jones came up next and hit a hotshot to short, with Cheyenne Strickland's throw home late as Pompeo slid in under the tag.
 
Now up 2-0 with Notte at third and Jones at second, Erin Cressman delivered a huge single to centerfield that brought home two more runs.

The four runs put momentum on the Falcons' side, and Allen put an exclamation point on the start by striking out the side in the bottom of the first. All three strikeout came via the swing.
 
In the bottom of the second Ferrum earned a run back on a one-out solo home run by Logan Barbour. The towering drive went a few feet beyond the left field fence. Allen walked the next batter but then struck out two more to end the frame.
 
Messiah's offense did not add to their lead until the fourth inning, and they came close to blowing the game open. Pinch hitters Madelyn Yannetti (single) and Tina Lehman (walk) both reached with one out to bring up Carrie Fix. She drilled a fastball to centerfield, but it went right to Barbour for the catch. Brooke Pompeo then walked to load the bases, and Courtney Allen stepped up. She went down 1-2 but worked all the way back to a full count, and she laid off a high fastball to reach first and push in Yannetti from third base. Notte grounded out to the mound for the third out.
 
Allen sat the Panthers down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth, but in the fifth she allowed another solo home run to left. This one came off the bat of Amber Coffin to lead off the frame, with the ball bouncing off the top of the wall above the reach of Fix.
 
The Falcons seemed poised to get the run back in their very next at-bat when, with two outs, Pompeo (single) and Allen (walk) created some pressure for pitcher Amanda Roberts. Becky Notte then worked to a 2-2 before putting a soft liner to left field and into the running leap of shortstop Strickland.
 
The hard-luck out by Notte loomed larger a few moments later when Ferrum rallied in the bottom of the sixth. Madelyn Yannetti relieved Allen and got a quick strikeout, but a single and a walk put two runners on. With runners on first and second Yannetti coaxed a high chopper back to the mound, but she didn't have a play at either base. That brought up Barbour, who had homered earlier, with no room on the bases.
 
Barbour hit a hard grounder up the middle that appeared headed for center, but Amanda Jones made an impressive sliding grab just behind the bag. She stepped on the base for the second out, but her relay to first base was not in time. Ferrum scored two runs on the play with Jordan Hamlett, in heads-up fashion, racing around from second base.
 
Now with the score 5-4, and with the tying run on second base, Yannetti came up with a huge strikeout of Miyana Ross to escape without further damage.
 
There was little rest for Yannetti as the Falcons went down in order in the top of the seventh. She came back out and collected her third-and-final strikeout before putting the tying run on first via a walk. Head coach Amy Weaver then inserted Allen back into the circle, and she answered the call by striking out Aiyana Lew and inducing a game-ending pop-fly to Amber Bingaman in center.
 
As mentioned, Allen finished with nine strikeouts over her 5.2 innings. She allowed just two hits—both solo home runs—and two walks, and pushed her record moved to 23-0. Yannetti allowed three hits and two earned runs in her 1.1 innings, even as two of her hits allowed were not stuck hard.
 
Brooke Pompeo and Erin Cressman each had two of the Falcons' seven hits, with Cressman's two RBI leading the way.