The win was completed in the bottom of the sixth with one out when Cressman's infield hit brought home Courtney Allen and put the Falcons up by eight. Messiah had entered the frame leading 6-1, but a one-out throwing error allowed Carrie Fix to reach and Brooke Pompeo drilled her first career home run to make it 8-1. Pompeo's shot was never in doubt and she raced around the bases with her teammates rushing to the plate for a celebration.

Courtney Allen followed with walk, and Notte reached on a chopper to second when the Carly Anderson attempted to start a double play with a flip from her glove. The shuffle was dropped for an error, and Amanda Jones followed with an infield single to shortstop to load the bases. That brought up Cressman, who had homered earlier in the game. She hit a chopper in the hole at short that was field by Shilah Snead, but her throw to third wasn't completed as every runner advanced. The out wouldn't have mattered anyway, and the celebration was on for the Falcons.

Cressman finished 2-2 with four RBI for Messiah, and Jones went 3-4 to lead the Falcons' 11 hits. Courtney Allen earned the win with 4.1 solid innings in a start as she allowed just four hits and a single run with two strikeouts.

Allen's outing was supported by two tremendous plays in centerfield by Amber Bingaman. She made a terrific catch on the very first batter, with her running grab leading her into the wall. In the fourth inning she made an even better catch against Rowan slugger Ashley DeYoung. Her hard liner to left center was run down by Bingaman, with a last-second leap giving Bingaman just enough length to reel it in.

As terrific as those plays were, it was Allen who probably made the play of the game when she moved to centerfield in the fifth. That's when Rowan scored their lone run thanks to a one-out single by Snead that chased a runner around from second. Coach Amy Weaver then brought Madelyn Yannetti to the circle where she had already earned two wins this weekend in relief. She coaxed a ground ball to short, but it went under the glove of Jones for an error to put runners on first and third. That brought up DeYoung, and she ripped 2-2 fastball deep to centerfield and over the head of Allen. The Falcons' senior raced back as quickly as she could and made a diving catch toward straightaway center. The bullet from DeYoung would have easily scored two runs if not caught.

After a walk, Yannetti induced a ground ball to Cressman at first to escape any further damange. That proved to be Rowan's last chance to keep pace.

Messiah forced Rowan to play from behind early thanks to a single run in the second and three more in the third. In the second inning Shannon Denny collected a big RBI with a two-out single to left that brought home Jones, who had singled to lead off the inning. In the third inning Messiah took control with another two-out hit, this one a monster home run by Cressman to right field. It was her 12th longball of the season and brought home both Allen and Becky Notte. Noteable in the inning was Notte's infield hit, the 232nd of her career that gave her sole possession of Messiah's career hit record.

After Allen's defensive gem and Yannetti's strong relief helped Messiah through the fifth, and in the bottom of that frame they again scored runs with two outs. This time the rally started with a two-out triple to right center by Jones. After Cressman was walked on four pitches, Bingaman laced a first pitch triple of her own down the right field line to bring home both teammates for an 8-1 lead. Yannetti then sat the Profs down 1-2-3 in the sixth to set up the winning run by Messiah in their next at-bat.

Yannetti earned her fourth save of the season with 1.2 innings of hitless relief. Allen's win moved her 27-1 on the season, while Rowan starter Allison Nolan fell to 5-2 after allowing six hits and six runs (four earned) over 2.2 innings. Including Thursday's outing against Messiah, Nolan allowed eight earned runs to the Falcons over just 4.1 innings.

As mentioned, Messiah will now await the winner of tomorrow's game between Texas-Tyler and St. John Fisher. The Cardinals of St. John Fisher edged the Patriots 1-0 earlier today behind a seventh-inning solo home run by Karlie Neale and a dominant complete-game, 14-strikeout performance from sophomore hurdler Lindsey Thayer.

Game time for those two teams will be 10:00 a.m. Monday's Championship Series will start at 1:00 p.m. and will be a best-of-three series with two games on Monday and the "if necessary" game on Tuesday.