VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Messiah University Softball team was in action on Day Two of the NCAA Regional Tournament against the Golden Bears of Western New England University. The Falcons took an early 4-0 lead after a three-run second inning. The Golden Bear scored two of their own in the bottom of the third, but Messiah answered with a pair in the top of the fifth to take a 6-2 lead. The Falcons held on for the 6-2 win to advance to Game Three of Day Two of the NCAA Regional Tournament. Sierra Emery and Allie Book led the Falcons with two hits each with Book and Rebekah Wiley knocking in RBIs. Maggie Chinnadurai pitched seven innings for Messiah, allowing only four hits with two runs scored and three strikeouts.

The Falcons are next in action at 4:10 p.m. against Swarthmore College with the winning team advancing to the final day of NCAA Regional play.

How It Happened
Messiah started the game hot after Hannah Dyer got on base via a hit by pitch and Fallon Feaser secured a sacrifice bunt, advancing Dyer to second. On the play, Dyer was able to advance to third and reached home on a throwing error by the Golden Bears to record the Falcons' first run of the game.

The Falcons kept the bats hot in the second inning with Ali Wagner kicking off action with a single to right center. Jaden Keister reached safely on a sacrifice bunt and advanced to second with Wagner advancing to third on the error. Rebekah Wiley doubled down the right field line to score Wagner before Sierra Emery singled to right field advancing Wiley and scoring Keister. Emery advanced to second with heads up baserunning. With a wild pitch for the Golden Bears, Emery advanced to third and Wiley scored before the inning ended with Messiah holding a 4-0 lead.

Western New England started the bottom of the second with a single but was unable to keep the offense going. In the bottom of the third, the Golden Bears were able to put two runners in scoring position with no outs and put both runners across the plate to bring the Falcons' lead to 4-2 after three innings of play.

After three up and three down for both teams in the fourth, the Messiah bats heated up in the top of the fifth. Hannah Dyer started the inning with a bunt, reaching first on an error before stealing second base. As in the first inning, Fallon Feaser knocked a sacrifice bunt to advance Dyer to third. Kandice Schlabach singled to left field to score Dyer and extend the lead to 5-2. The next Falcon to the plate, Allie Book, had a hot bat of her own as she doubled to left center to score Schlabach and give Messiah the 6-2 lead.

On the defensive side, Maggie Chinnadurai made quick work of the Golden Bears in the bottom of the fifth with two groundouts and a foul out contributing to a three-batter inning. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Sierra Emery singled to third base and advanced to second on a wild pitch to put herself in scoring position. The Falcons were not able to capitalize, and the score remained 6-2 in favor of Messiah. Messiah had runners on first and third in the top of the seventh but did not add any runs to their total.

Maggie Chinnadurai struck out the first batter in the bottom of the seventh before a groundout and popout secured the 6-2 win for Messiah to advance them to Game Three of the NCAA Regional Tournament.

Stats
Sierra Emery and Allie Book led the Falcons with two hits each with Book and Rebekah Wiley knocking in RBIs. Hannah Dyer added a stolen base, and two runs scored. Maggie Chinnadurai pitched seven innings for Messiah, allowing only four hits with two runs scored and three strikeouts.

Up Next
The Falcons are next in action at 4:10 p.m. against Swarthmore College with the winning team advancing to the final day of NCAA Regional play.