D3 Softball Post-Season 2023

[TUAngola]

Trine will go as far as their pitching takes them.  They have a solid rotation of 3:  Lefty Fr Debbie Hill is usually the #1 starter, she is just a stud, is also the leading hitter for the Thunder too as DP when she isn't pitching.  #2 starter is Sr Anna Koeppl, the conference pitcher of the year, undefeated, had a 0.00 ERA in conference play and I think 0.40 ERA overall, not overpowering but has such good control.  #3 starter is Jr Alexis Michon, transfer from ECSU, another solid arm that has allowed the pitching staff to spread innings pitched over these 3 with #4 Jr Lauren Clausen seeing a spot start here and there.  This has all been done without last year's leading pitcher Adrienne Rosey who has been out all year.  The staff allowed only 1 run in 3 games in the regional with Michon giving up a HR to Wartburg in the top of the 7th yesterday.

Other good news is getting Sr CF Ellie Trine back from injury.  She missed 5 games at the end of the season and was able to play this weekend.  She had a key 2 out 2-run double yesterday in the win against Wartburg.   

Trine hosts #14 40-3 Concordia University Wisconsin in the super regional Friday and Saturday.  They are pretty impressive, with an undefeated conference season, they have only lost to Central (IA) twice and Coe.  They too have outstanding pitching with Gina Followell an impressive 27-0 with a .70 ERA and 241 K's.  They have a good second arm too, but they don't go any deeper than that.  Lineup all hits well over .300.  It will be a battle for the Thunder to advance back to the World Series.

[deiscanton]

Moravian vs Tufts resumed at noon Eastern after rain halted the deciding game after 6 innings yesterday.

Game is going to extra innings, as Tufts scored the tying run in the bottom of the 7th to remain alive in the regional.

Moravian at bat in the top of the 8th, with the game tied at 1-1 in Medford, MA.   Winner will face MIT next week in the Super Regionals.

[deiscanton]

After 7 1/2 innings in Medford, MA--

Moravian scored 3 runs in the top of the 8th to make the score Moravian 4, Tufts 1  with Tufts down to their last 3 outs.

[deiscanton]

Final from Medford, MA--

Moravian wins the regional, pulling off the upset over #7 Tufts, 4-1 (8 innings.)

Moravian will play #16 MIT next week in the Super Regionals-- Site and times TBD.

[justafan12]

Not the same TLU juggernaut as in seasons past to be sure, with two losses in SCAC conference play, then losing 1-0 in the SCAC championships to 14-26 Trinity and again to St. Thomas in the final. TLU hadn't lost a game in the SCAC championships since 2016 and had been 23-1 all-time there before the two losses this year.  Congrats to Belhaven!

My take is TLU plays in a weak conference and that finally hurt them come post season.  They went 2-2 against conference champ St. Thomas who got shut out twice in their first ever regional appearance.  They play a pretty tough non conference schedule but when it comes to their conference games I think it hurts them at the end of the year.

[phil]

You could be right. TLU also doesn't leave the state of Texas all season except for tilt against Centenary in Louisiana. While other DIII teams are traveling to Florida and elsewhere to play teams from other parts of the country during spring break, TLU stays home and has a few teams like Babson come to them. Belhaven played a killer schedule early in the season. The thing is, with at least three coaches who are connected to the Texas Bomber organization - including its program director - Texas Lutheran has a direct pipeline to the largest club team organization in the country, not to mention a reputation as a DIII program that's in the hunt for a national championship each year. If there's a kid within the Bomber organization who isn't going to play D1 or leave the state of Texas, TLU becomes a solid option and these TLU coaches are going to be well aware of it – probably long before other college coaches know. Given the inner workings of the Bombers, these coaches probably know they have a potential DIII athlete before the potential player and her parents even know (the dreams of playing for the Aggies or the Longhorns are not given up easily). To top it off, if you're playing travel ball for the Bombers (or Hotshots, Blaze or Impact Gold), you're facing elite players and pitchers every summer and fall – which makes TLU's failure to advance to the next round in the playoffs a bit surprising. However, losing a pair of 2-1 games – both to Belhaven's #1 pitcher who was rested – isn't exactly a shock. But, losing to St. Thomas in the finals of their conference tourney the previous weekend was.

[justafan12]

TLU stays in Texas but never plays ETBU (or UT Tyler when they were D3) the two dominant teams over the past decade in Texas D3.  Not sure of the reason, could be that those teams do not want to play TLU (which I doubt), could be that they don't want to play their potential regional foes.  Just not sure. 
ETBU gets 4 good programs to come to Marshall to play this year.  Now that could be due to them hosting the WS so teams wanted to play there but all TLU can get is Bapson, Hanover and Piedmont.  Not sure any of those made the NCAA playoffs.
The SCAC conference is picking off schools from the ASC but for softball its not good teams.  That will get TLU more conference games against weaker teams and fewer opportunities for non conference competition.

[WLCALUM83]

Not the same TLU juggernaut as in seasons past to be sure, with two losses in SCAC conference play, then losing 1-0 in the SCAC championships to 14-26 Trinity and again to St. Thomas in the final. TLU hadn't lost a game in the SCAC championships since 2016 and had been 23-1 all-time there before the two losses this year.  Congrats to Belhaven!

Now the Blazers get Berry--who they opened up their season against--splitting a DH- Vikings got a come-from-behind victory in the opener-Blazers' Baucom got the win in the nightcap, outpitching Hollis.  Should Belhaven pitching keep the Vikings off the bases enough, this series has the potential to be a tight one.

I'll also give my take on Coe/Hiram:  The Terriers have a deeper bullpen (2.37 ERA compared to Coe's 1.89); however, on offense Hiram hit 12 home runs on the season (Kohawks hit 38): Stolen Bases-Hiram has a slight edge (65-61). In Game 1 of the Saturday sweep vs. UW-Whitewater, Coe belted 4 home runs -one of which was a grand slam. If Hiram pitching can keep Coe from duplicating that "Pittsburgh Pirate Lumber Co." imitation, the better the Terriers' chances will be.

Too close to call:  CNU/VA Wesleyan
                          Randolph-Macon/Rowan
                          Bethel/Linfield
                          MIT/Moravian

Trine/Concordia-WI; Figuring the Thunder will advance  (more depth on paper) .
Salisbury/Lebanon Valley: Salisbury, although Lebanon Valley did eliminate ranked U of
                                                    Rochester.

[WLCALUM83]

Super Regional Game 1 pitching matchups:

Trine (Debbie Hill 10-3 0.99 ERA) vs. Concordia-WI (Gina Followell 27-0  0.71)
Randolph Macon (Gracie Ellis 25-4  1.12) vs. Rowan (Rylee Lutz  22-5  1.57)
CNU (Kate Alger 14-5  1.26 vs. VA Wesleyan (Lauren Bible  15-1  0.97)
Berry (Hannah Gore 15-1  1.06) vs. Belhaven (Kennedy Carruth  20-4  1.00)
Salisbury (Lindsey Windsor 14-1  1.15) vs. Lebanon Valley (Jordan Walter  19-4  1.36)
MIT (Caroline Langmeyer  20-4  1.55) vs. Moravian (Sarah DeStefano 16-2  1.75)

Coe/Hiram & Linfield/Bethel  later

[WLCALUM83]

MIT 1, Moravian 0  4th  (Avy Ladd 3rd inning RBI single)

CNU 1, VA Wes 0  3rd (Caroline Pollock 2nd inning RBI double)

Berry 1, Belhaven 0 4th (Katie White 3rd inning RBI double)

[WLCALUM83]

Rowan 2, Randolph-Macon 0 5th inning (Peyton MacNair 5th inning HR, Thomas RBI single)

Lebanon Valley 1, Salisbury 0  4th inning (Megan Heard an inside-the-park HR)

Concordia/Trine still scoreless in the 5th.

Coe (Ellie Thurow 13-4  1.20 ERA) vs. Hiram (Trinity Meza 7-4, 1.76) just underway.

[WLCALUM83]

Final:  MIT 5, Moravian 1 (A 5th inning 3-spot gives the ranked squad the distance and Langmeyer tosses a 3-hitter for a complete game win.)
Roadrunners need 2 wins to advance.

Rowan is now up 5-0 on Randolph-Macon going into the bottom of the 7th.

Trine 1, Concordia 0 6th (Cassie Woods 5th inning SF RBI after a triple)

[WLCALUM83]

Other Finals:  Berry 2, Belhaven 0 (Hannah Gore tosses a no-hitter!)
                     Blazers need 2 wins to advance.

                    Salisbury 3, Lebanon Valley 1 (Single runs in the 4th, 5th and 6th were all the offense Lindsey Windsor needed. She tossed a complete game 4-hitter.) Gulls need only 1 win to move on.

                     Rowan 5, Randolph-Macon 1 (A Randolph-Macon last at bat threat fell short). Profs need one win to advance.

                      CNU 3, VA Wesleyan 1 (Kate Alger hurls a 2-hitter for the win). Marlins need to win twice to advance.

[WLCALUM83]

Last early game final:  Trine 4, Concordia-WI 3;  A Thunder 3-spot in the 6th was matched by the Falcons in the 7th. Michon came on in relief to preserve the lead for Trine. Concordia-WI needs to beat Trine twice to advance.

In the one other game in progress Coe has just scored on an error, 1-0 Kohawks still batting in the bottom of the 5th.

[TUAngola]

Last early game final:  Trine 4, Concordia-WI 3;  A Thunder 3-spot in the 6th was matched by the Falcons in the 7th. Michon came on in relief to preserve the lead for Trine. Concordia-WI needs to beat Trine twice to advance.

In the one other game in progress Coe has just scored on an error, 1-0 Kohawks still batting in the bottom of the 5th.

Trine hand's CUW's Gina Followell her first loss of the season (27-1) in the first game of the Trine Super Regional.  Game was scoreless until the 5th.  Both CUW and Trine had some chances early but the pitchers held serve.  Hero for Trine was #9 hitter Ainsley Phillips who just missed a HR with a triple in 5th inning, then Cassie Woods brought her in with a sac fly.  In the 6th we manufactured the first run with a safety squeeze play and Phillips followed that up with another triple to the right/center fence that plated 2 more runs.

Trine's freshman pitcher/dp standout Debbie Hill was cruising along until the top of the 7th.  With one out CUW singled and the next batter reached on a single with the runners advancing on an error.  Then CUW's Gabbi Gaziano put a charge into a 3-2 pitch and drove it over the fence in right-center that brought the Falcons to within one run, 4-3.  That was it for Debbie and the Thunder brought in Alexis Michon to try to finish it out.  The first batter for CUW, after the pitching change, drove the ball deep to left, I thought it was going out but Cassie Woods caught it on the warning track.  Another fly out ended the game.

Game 2 tommorrow at 1pm.  Even though CUW lost I'm certain they gained some confidence the way they swung the bats in the 7th as up to that point they only had 3 singles with only 1 leaving the infield.