12:00 p.m. - Firestone Stadium Pony Field, Loser's Bracket Second Round
#7 Ave Maria University (2-1) - 10, #5 St. Mary of the Woods (0-2) - 9
Ave Maria grabbed a 9-0 lead after two innings, then withstood a charge from St. Mary of the Woods to win 10-9 and advance in the loser's bracket of the 2013 USCAA Softball National Championships at Firestone Stadium's Pony Field.
The Gyrenes take on Carlow University at 4:00 p.m. in a loser's bracket semifinal in a rematch of their second round match-up on Monday night. Carlow took down Ave Maria 12-2 in their first meeting.
Ave Maria used five hits and took advantage of four Pomeroy errors in the first two innings to take the 9-0 lead. Sarah Vinci continued her hot hitting with an RBI double in the first, then drove in two more with a double in the second. The Gyrenes led 3-0 after the first, and went ahead 9-0 after two innings against St. Mary of the Woods starter Garrnet Stenger.
The Pomeroys battled back starting in the fourth. A walk and a hit batsmen eventually scored on RBI singles by Kimberly Strattman and Shelby Barnett to make it 9-3 after four. St. Mary of the Woods struck again in the sixth, rallying for six runs. Two RBI singles opened up the inning, followed by a Melinda Bauer RBI double to make it 9-6. Melana Minning then crushed a three-run homer to tie the game at 9-9 with one out in the inning. Ave Maria escaped a bases loaded jam to set up the seventh.
With two outs, Kingsley Avery singled, stole second base and scored on an RBI single from Caitlin Constance. Janet Holtfreter closed out the Pomeroys in the seventh to advance the Gyrenes.
St. Mary of the Woods will meet Penn State Beaver at 4:00 p.m. on the Pony Field in the seventh place game.
