NCAA Bracket

Release courtesy of Gettysburg Athletic Communications

THE FACTS
No. 5 Virginia Wesleyan (45-3-1) No. 16 Gettysburg (41-7) 0 (5 inn.)
What: NCAA Div. III softball championship super regional
When: Thursday, May 22
Where: Virginia Beach, Va.

THE SKINNY STORY
Virginia Wesleyan, ranked fifth in the latest NFCA Div. III coaches' poll, scored four runs in the third inning to break up a scoreless deadlock and defeat No. 16 Gettysburg 8-0 in five innings in the first game of the NCAA Div. III softball championship super regional round.

THE LEADERS
• Jamie Shaw (Mount Airy, Md./Glenelg) was on base twice for the Bullets, drawing two walks.

FOR THE FOES
• Mackenzie Myers was 2-for-3 with two RBIs to lead the Marlins.

THE REST OF THE STORY
• An error allowed Halee Hawkins to reach base to lead off the bottom of the third inning. After a groundout, singles from Sarah Prosser and Julia Piotrowski loaded the bases before Sadler was able to score on a ground ball for the game's first run. A Morgan Tucker RBI groundout made it 2-0 with two outs before Mackenzie Myers poked a single back up the middle to score both runs and cap a four-run frame for Virginia Wesleyan.
• Olivia Knight led off the fourth with a home run before Sadler doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice. She then scored on a groundout to the right side. A walk, stolen base and Laci Campbell RBI single made it a 7-0 game.
• Tucker reached on a single and error before giving way to pinch-runner Jenna Laird, who took third on a groundout and scored on a error for the run-rule run.

THE INSIDE STORY
• Audrey Bergan (Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School) and Morgan DeFreitas (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown West) had the lone hits for the Bullets.

NEXT UP
Virginia Wesleyan needs to win just one game on Friday to advance to the Women's College World Series while Gettysburg would have to win twice in the final two games of the best-of-three series to move on to Bloomington, Ill. Game two of the superregional begins at 1 p.m.