GRANTHAM, Pa. – On Friday afternoon, the Messiah softball team dropped a close 7-5 game to Eastern University. The Falcons remained tied through the first two innings, but a big five run spot from the Eagles proved to be the difference in the win for Eastern. Messiah managed to get two in the fourth and one more in the sixth, but came up just short In their comeback efforts. The Falcons kept their season alive with a walk off 8-0 win in six innings against Hood College to advance to tomorrows MAC Commonwealth Championship.
Up Next:
The Falcons will take on Eastern University tomorrow at 1:00pm in the MAC Commonwealth Championship.
Game One: Eastern 7 Messiah 5
How It Happened:
The Eagles struck first to open the game with the first three batters reaching base via lead off double, a walk, and a bases clearing double to left center to take an early 2-0 lead. Following a pitching change,
Kelli Durbin worked herself out the inning to contain the Eagles push. The Falcons had a chance in the bottom of the first with a lead off walk and a stolen base from
Hannah Dyer, but no other Falcon would reach base with Eastern holding on to the two-run lead.
Despite a lead off single for the Eagles, Durbin struck out the next three batters to swing the momentum in Messiah's favor.
Allie Book would lead the inning off reaching on an error. The next two batters for the Falcons would retire, but a
Maggie Chinnadurai walk kept the inning alive setting up a
Rebekah Wiley double to tie the game up at 2-2.
The third inning was not kind to the Falcons as the Eagles took advantage of a three-run home run to take a 5-2 lead with only one out. Following back-to-back singles and a walk, an error allowed the Eagles to extend their lead to 7-2. Messiah would work their way out the inning but would go down 1-2-3 to head into the fourth still trailing by five.
Fallon Feaser reentered the game after letting up the first two runs and was able to strand two runners on to give Messiah some life and hold that deficit at five.
Brielle Rosario,
Ali Wagner, and Chinnadurai all picked up singles, scoring one with runners in scoring position and no outs. Following a Wiley sacrifice fly, the Falcons had new life only trailing 7-4. Unfortunately, the Falcons could not continue the inning but changed the landscape of this game only trailing by three.
After a quiet fifth inning from both teams, the Falcons desperately needed runs in the sixth to cut into the Eagles lead. Wagner led the sixth off with a double to right center, later advancing to third on a fly out. A couple of pitches' later and Wiley picked up another RBI with a sacrifice fly to left to cut the lead to 7-5. Unfortunately, no more runs would score heading into seventh still trailing.
Following a quick 1-2-3 from Feaser in the circle, Messiah had one last chance to either tie or walk off the game in the seventh. Things started well with Feaser reaching by a walk, but a strikeout, fielder's choice, and a fly out ended the game for the Falcons as they now must win game five today in order to advance to tomorrow's championship.
Stats:
Fallon Feaser pitched 4.2 innings, with one strikeout.
Kelli Durbin pitched 2.1 innings, with three strikeouts.
Ali Wagner finished 2-3 on the day, while
Maggie Chinnadurai,
Rebekah Wiley, and
Brielle Rosario picked up the other three hits.
Game Two: Messiah 8 Hood 0
Both pitchers looked locked in to begin the final game of the day, as
Maggie Chinnadurai retired the Blazers 1-2-3, then Hood managed to escape a single from
Kandice Schlabach to get out the inning still scoreless.
The second inning was no different as both teams were sat down by the opposing pitchers.
Ali Wagner and
Rebekah Wiley both grabbed hits, but no runs were scored as the teams headed into the third still tied at 0-0. However, following another strong inning from Chinnadurai, the Falcons finally managed to break the scoreless drought.
Hannah Dyer provided a lead off single, then advanced to second on a ground out. That advancement proved to be big as a
Brielle Rosario double put the first run on the board. Following a single from Schlabach and a double from
Allie Book, the Falcons then extended their lead to 3-0. Chinnadurai and Wagner provided more singles, but it would be some crucial errors from the Blazers that allowed the Falcons to grab a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Blazers managed to finally cause a scare with two runners reaching by errors, but Chinnadurai remained composed to get out the inning still spotless. Messiah managed to get another run in the bottom of the fourth. Dyer worked her way to second off a single and a stolen base. Following a
Fallon Feaser walk, both runners advanced on a throw setting up a Rosario sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 6-0.
Hood put two runners on in the fifth but were unable to do anything with it as Chinnadurai continued to pitch a gem of a game. Book and Wagner provided some early singles in the fifth. The Blazers managed to grab two outs with a close play at the plate, however, Wiley provided the seventh run of the game on a hard ground ball causing an error to extend the lead to 7-0.
Kelli Durbin provided some relief for Chinnadurai looking to keep the shutout alive. For Durbin it only took three batters to keep that dream alive setting up the Falcons to close it out in the fifth. Messiah's top of the lineup shut the door on the Blazers as Dyer led off with a walk, Feaser advanced her to second on a sacrifice bunt, then a couple of pitches later, Rosario provided the walk off single to send the Falcons to the MAC Commonwealth Championship.
Stats:
Maggie Chinnadurai pitched five innings, striking out five batters with no runs allowed.
Kelli Durbin pitched the final inning and kept the shutout to end the game in 14 pitches.
Ali Wagner finished 3-3 with one RBI, while four other Falcons finished 2-3, accounting for five runs scored.
What's Up Next:
The Falcons will take on Eastern University in the MAC Commonwealth Championship tomorrow at 1:00p.m. The Falcons will need to sweep the Eagles on Saturday in order to claim the conference title.
