GRANTHAM, Pa. - Playing in an unconventional format in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament, the fourth-seeded Messiah softball team split an opening doubleheader in the quarterfinals against the fifth-seeded Eagles from Eastern University on Saturday. The Falcons took Game One 4-0, behind a no-hitter from
Madison Walter in the circle, but Messiah was unable to complete the sweep, spoiling another gem from Walter and losing 2-1 in Game Two.
Walter went 14 innings on Saturday, allowing just three hits and two unearned runs, while tossing a no-hitter and striking out 10 on the day. Despite her efforts, Messiah was unable to punch their ticket into next weekend's MAC Commonwealth Semifinals. The Falcons will attempt to do so tomorrow afternoon when Messiah and Eastern square off in the rubber match of the best-of-three series in St. Davids. Game time for Sunday is still to be determined.
With the split, the Falcons improve to 42-24 all-time in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament.
Game One - Messiah defeats Easter - 4-0
The Messiah softball team topped visiting Eastern University, 4-0, in the opening game of the MAC Commonwealth Quarterfinals at Starry Softball Field on Saturday afternoon. Junior pitcher
Madison Walter pitched a complete-game, no-hit shutout to give Messiah a 1-0 lead in the Quarterfinals series.
McKenzie Shannon and Eliana Litwin contributed the run-scoring hits for the Falcons.
The no-hit effort from Walter included seven strikeouts as she allowed just two runners to reach base.
Walter breezed through the opening two innings, striking out three batters while facing the minimum. Lexi Evelyn matched Walter's performance, striking out three batters while also facing the minimum.
The game opened up in the bottom of the third frame when Messiah took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues from the Eagles.
Elianna Litwin, the leadoff batter of the inning, was the first baserunner of the game after being hit by a pitch. A throwing error by the catcher put runners on second and third for the Falcons, as Shannon knocked in both runs with a single up the middle, tallying her 14th and 15th RBI of the season to give Messiah a 2-0 edge.
Alexa Burger ripped a single up the middle, once again putting two runners on for the Falcons. An aggressive double steal by both runners forced a rushed throw that was mishandled by Sami Britton at third base, allowing Shannon to score the third run (3-0) for Messiah.
The Falcons tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, an RBI-single to left field from Litwin to give Messiah its ultimate 4-0 lead.
With the victory, Walter notched her tenth complete game of the season, improving her record to 8-4. Her eighth win of the season is a team-high mark, tallying the most wins by a Messiah pitcher since the 2018 season.
Shannon, Burger, Litwin, and
Brynne Baker all recorded hits for Messiah.
Game Two - Eastern defeats Messiah - 2-1
Neither team scored an earned run in Game Two on Saturday. The Falcons pushed a run across in the bottom of the first inning when Mckenzie Shannon singled to lead off the game for Messiah. After stealing second, Shannon came around to score when a ground ball to the pitcher was thrown away. Messiah threatened for more in the frame, but left two runners on base and had a runner thrown out at the plate, leaving their lead just one at 1-0.
The Falcons were knocking on the door again in the third, but left the bases loaded with a strikeout and a groundout ending the inning.
After being held hitless through the first 10 innings of the day, Eastern recorded their first knock of the afternoon with a two-out double to left center. Walter stranded the runner right there with a strikeout swinging to keep Messiah in front 1-0.
In the sixth, Eastern put their leadoff hitter on thanks to an error in right field. With the sun impacting the play, a lazy fly ball to right field was dropped allowing the runner to reach second with no outs. After a line out and a pop out, the Eagles got back-to-back hits for the first time all day with a double tying the game and a single up the middle driving home the go-ahead run. Their timely hits, gave Eastern a 2-1 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth.
Messiah went down in order in both the sixth and seventh as the Eagles forced a deceive Game Three tomorrow afternoon in St. Davids.
The winner of tomorrow's contest will advance to play the Alvernia Golden Wolves next weekend in the MAC Commonwealth Semifinals. Alvernia swept the Hood Blazers on Saturday by scores of 10-1 and 11-0 to advance to next weekend.
