Pacers Headed to Rochester (N.Y.) Regional in First NCAA Trip

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Scranton, PA – Marywood University has been selected to the NCAA® Softball Rochester (N.Y.) Regional in the first round of the NCAA Division III Softball Championships where the Pacers will take on the host University of Rochester Yellowjackets in the first round. The double-elimination tournament also features a first round game between Messiah College and Alfred (N.Y.) University.

Messiah College is an at-large selection from the Commonwealth Conference. Alfred was runner-up in the Empire 8 Athletic Conference, losing to Ithaca College. Rochester won the Liberty League Championship with an 8-0 win over RPI.

HOW WE GOT HERE: Marywood earned its second conference championship overall and first since 1995 with a 3-2 win over Cabrini College in Saturday's Colonial States Athletic Conference Championship game. Marywood is 24-11 on the year. Rochester boasts a 26-11 overall mark, while Messiah stands at 28-9 and Alfred at 27-10.

The Pacers started the year slowly with a 1-5 record on their annual spring break trip to Florida. After returning North, Marywood went on a tear, winning 13 of its next 15 games. After splitting a conference series with Centenary (N.J.) College and a non-conference twin-bill with The University of Scranton, Marywood won its final six conference games of the season to finish league play with a 19-3 record, forcing a three-way tiebreaker with Immaculata University and Neumann University.

By virtue of Marywood's regular season sweep of Cabrini, the fourth-seeded team in the post-season tournament, the Pacers earned the CSAC's top seed and right to host the Conference Championships. Marywood edged #4 Cabrini 1-0 in their opening game, and then defeated #2 Neumann 4-2 later in the day. The Pacers closed out the Championships Saturday with a 3-2 win over Cabrini to secure their automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Freshman hurler Lindsey Gibbs earned tournament MVP honors for the Pacers after going 3-0 in the Championships with 28 strikeouts. Gibbs went 13-4 on the year with a 2.13 ERA, holding opponents to a .264 batting average. She fanned 131 batters in 101.2 innings of work on the mound and walked just 34 batters. Gibbs started 17 games for the Pacers and made 20 appearances overall, collecting 11 complete games, three solo shutouts, one shared shutout and one save.

Offensively, Marywood is led by another rookie, Brooke Labs. The shortstop batted .435 on the year with 14 doubles, four triple, two homers and a team-leading 37 RBI. Fellow CSAC First Team All-Star Diana Butash, the Pacers' centerfielder, batted .420 with a team-leading 50 hits. Butash had a team-leading seven triples and four homers. She was also a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen bases.

Mariah Runco, who split time as the Pacers' designated player and third baseman, batted .402 on the year with twelve doubles, four triples and a homer to go along with 34 RBI. Outfielder Chelsea Zimmerman batted .378 in 31 games while Sarah Recanati hit .371.

Samantha Rayhon, Marywood's catcher, had another fine season behind the plate, collecting 176 putouts, 14 assists and only committing six errors for a .969 fielding percentage. Rayhon threw out 31 of 38 runners who tried to steal on her during the year, and at the plate she had seven doubles and 19 RBI.

Stephanie Bagniewski, who split time between first and second base, also had a strong year in the field with 153 putouts, 15 assists and only three errors for a .982 fielding percentage. In the batter's box, Bagniewski hit .306 with 12 doubles and 26 RBI.

Coach Bob Fitzsimmons became the all-time winningest coach in Marywood history this season, surpassing the 200 win milestone during the course of the year. For his efforts in leading the Pacers to the top seed, Fitzsimmons was named the 2014 CSAC Coach of the Year by his peers, his second Coach of the Year award and first since 2008.

SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS: The University of Rochester Yellowjackets earned the Liberty League automatic bid with a pair of 8-0 wins over RPI this past weekend. Rochester boosted its record to 26-11 overall. The Yellowjackets entered the Liberty League championships as the top-ranked team in the Northeast Region of the NCAA. They lost their Liberty League opener, 6-4, to Union College on Thursday afternoon when the Dutchwomen rallied for six runs in the last two at-bats.

That loss in the double elimination tournament meant Rochester had to win four straight. The Yellowjackets did it, beating Skidmore, 13-2, in Friday's first game (a nine-run first inning was the key) and then topping Union, 5-0, in the second game on Friday. RPI advanced into Saturday's championship round with a 6-0 win over Skidmore on Thursday and a 6-5 victory over Union in Friday's first game. RPI scored three times, all unearned, in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the win over Union.

Tayler Fravel leads the Yellowjackets with a .476 batting average in 37 games played. Nina Korn has blasted 12 homers and has 45 RBI, while both Brittany Grage and Eleni Wechsler won 13 games on the mound. Grage has a 1.35 ERA while Wechler has a 1.39 ERA.

SCOUTING ALFRED: This will be Alfred's second-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III championship tournament. The Saxons played in 2010, falling to host Ithaca in the regional championship game. Alfred won three of five games played in the regional that year and finished the season with 37 wins, a school single-season record. The Saxons are coming off a runner-up finish in the Empire 8 Conference championship tournament, losing to host Ithaca Sunday in the tournament title game.

Alfred went 27-10 on the year and were 7-5 in the Empire 8 but made a run to the title games with early wins over Stevens Institute of Technology and Utica.

Stephanie Arguiello leads the Saxons with a .491 batting average in 24 games played. Samantha Jauregui is hitting .456 on the year in 26 games. Alfred has several other offensive threats, as five Saxons are hitting above .400 on the year and another six are hitting above .300.

Katelyn Jakobsen leads the Saxons' pitching staff with a 7-2 overall record and 2.59 ERA. Jakobsen struck out 52 batters in 62.2 innings pitched. Alison Wickwire went 13-5 for Alfred, holding opponents to a .245 batting average and holding a 2.90 ERA. Wickwire fanned 101 batters in 115 innings of work.

SCOUTING MESSIAH: Messiah was the top-ranked team in the Commonwealth Championships but the Falcons had an early exit after losing to No. 2 Lebanon Valley, the eventual Champion, and No. 4 Alvernia. Both were one run losses for Messiah.

The Falcons are 28-9 on the year and went 14-2 in league play to earn the top seed. Becky Notte leads Messiah at the plate with a .479 batting average. Notte has a team-leading 56 hits on the season, 46 of which were singles. Notte also leads Messiah with 30 RBI. Courtney Allen batted .410 on the year with 24 RBI.

On the mound, Claressa Mees had a 1.10 ERA and 12-3 record in 20 games. Mallory Rutledge went 14-6 with a 1.39 ERA. Mees fanned 74 batters and held opponents to a .157 batting average while Rutledge struck out 76 and had opponents hitting just .217 against her.

SCHEDULE:

Friday, May 9
Game 1 - #2 Alfred vs. #3 Messiah, 1 pm
Game 2 - #4 Marywood vs. #1 Rochester, 3:30 pm

Saturday, May 10
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 11 am
Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1:30 pm
Game 5 – Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4 pm

Sunday, May 11
Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 12 pm
Game 7 (If necessary) – Same two teams as game 6 (if the Game 5 winner wins game 6), 2:30 pm

WHAT'S NEXT: This year, the NCAA is using a new format of four-team pods rather than the previous groupings of either six or eight teams. After this weekend, the 16 surviving teams will be placed into "Super-Regionals" akin to the format used for Division I. Teams have to win a best-of-three to advance. Eight teams advance to the championship round which will be held in Tyler, Texas beginning on May 22.

The winner of the NCAA® Softball Rochester (N.Y.) Regional will advance to take on the winner of the Ithaca Regional, which features Ithaca College, Penn State-Altoona, SUNY Oneonta and Rowan University. The Super Regionals will take place at a site yet to be determined May 16-17.

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