Salem, VA - In a game full of strange plays and missed opportunities it was No. 11 Messiah College breaking through in extra innings to end a 1-1 tie and win 3-1 over Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Amber Bingaman delivered the game-winning RBI with a one-out single to bring home Amanda Jones and, a few batters later, Brooke Pompeo added some insurance with a two-out single to right field with the bases loaded.
 
Madelyn Yannetti recorded her second win as many games at the Championships with 4.1 innings of relief. She allowed just a single hit but was otherwise perfect in an impressive performance from the circle. Courtney Allen was also mostly strong over 3.2 innings of the start. She was bent but not broken in allowing four hits, three walks, and just a single earned run.

With the win Messiah moves into tomorrow night's game at 6:30 p.m. They will face the winner of tomorrow's 1:30 game between Rowan and the loser of tonight's finale between Emory and Texas-Tyler.
 
The eighth inning breakthrough for Messiah was stark contrast to the multiple missed opportunities in the first seven frames. Through regulation Messiah left 11 runners on base, including seven in scoring position.
 
Messiah's first chance to really cause damage came in the third inning when Yannetti reached on a leadoff single and Shannon Denny bunted to move her over. Pitcher Lexi Marshall fielded the bunt but threw wide of first, and Yannetti rounded to third on the play. Carrie Fix then hit a chopper to first base and, forgetting the situation, first baseman Erika Anderson threw home thinking there was a force. But Yannetti didn't move from third base, and Fix reached to load the bases.
 
Brooke Pompeo followed with a high pop to Anderson at first, and the infield fly was called for the first out. But Anderson botched the catch and it rolled across the mound as Yannetti came down from third to score the first run. That put Messiah up 1-0, but they stranded two more runners in scoring position.
 
The lead was short-lived as MIT responded immediately in the bottom of the third. Allen allowed a one-out single and walk to put on two runners, and Katherine Shade followed with a bunt that died quickly in front of the plate. Becky Notte quickly picked up but hesitated as if unsure if it was fair or not. She then rushed a lofted throw to first that went over Erin Cressman and allowed the runner to race around from second base.
 
With runners now on the corners and just one out, Allen got Tori Jensen to line out to Emily Quatrale at second. Jasmin Joseph broke from third on contact, and Quatrale gunned her down for what appeared to be the third out.
 
But then things got strange. MIT head coach Jennifer Williams came out to ask whether or not the ball was caught in the air, and together the umpires confirmed the call. But then Williams argued that her runners attempted to advance because the umpire's initial call was not clear enough. Despite having already sent Messiah off the field, the umpires agreed with Williams and called the Falcons back out; the runners on first and third were reset, now with two outs.
 
Unphazed from the strange turn of events, Allen collected her only strikeout of the game to help Messiah escape the threat.
 
In the fourth Messiah appeared poised to get the lead back when Cressman doubled with one out and Yannetti walked with two out. But Carrie Fix flied out to fairly deep center to keep it 1-1. MIT then did their best to get another run in the bottom of the fourth when Allen gave up a leadoff single, a one-out walk, and a two-out hit-by-pitch the load the bases. That's when coach Amy Weaver went to Yannetti, and Amanda Lee laid down a bunt on a 1-2 pitch to challenge the Falcons' defense. Yannetti came in to field-and-fire to first, and Lee was ruled out on a bang-bang play.
 
In the fifth the RISP futility continued for Messiah when Brooke Pompeo led off with a triple to deep right. Marshall came up big for the Engineers to get Allen (ground out), Notte (pop out) and Jones (strikeout) in order to keep Pompeo 60 feet from home plate.
 
As the innings wore on Yannetti was terrific. Starting with her retirement of Lee to end the fourth she sat down nine-straight batters before giving up a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh. She got the third out on infield pop, and the teams went to extra innings.
 
In the eighth, Messiah finally broke through and got to Marshall. The MIT hurler was well over 100 pitches by that point, and Amanda Jones greeted her with a bunt single. She then stole second on the first pitch to Erin Cressman, and appeared ready to advance when Cressman drilled a 3-2 fastball to right center. Jasmin Joseph ran it down, however, and Amber Bingman came up. On a 0-2 pitch Bingaman fought off an outside fastball that looped over first base and landed fair, and Jones raced around third and scored without a play. That put Messiah up 2-1, and four batters later they added on.
 
Yannetti followed Bingaman with a hard single off the shin of third baseman Monica Shifflet, and Denny singled on a bunt to put Falcons on every base. Marshall recovered for a moment to strikeout Fix, but Pompeo came up with a huge single on a full-count offering. Bingaman scored for a 3-1 lead, even as the throw from right came home to get Yannetti in plenty of time.
 
Yannetti may very well have been eager to just back to the rubber. She recorded three groundouts to end the game, the last two of which went to Jones as short.
 
As mentioned, Yannetti got the win via 4.1 innings of relief. Thirty of her 44 pitches went for strikes. Marshall was dominant at times with nine strikeouts over eight innings, but she allowed 10 hits and her only two walks of the weekend thus far to fall to 26-11.
 
Pompeo, Cressman, and Yannetti each collected two hits, with Yannetti and Denny earned the walks.