SALEM, Va. -- Summer Dailey and Brenae Pettit came through when Virginia Wesleyan College's softball team needed them to produce Friday, lifting the Marlins to a tougher-than-expected 1-0 victory over Emory & Henry College's Wasps in the opening game of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship tournament.

After the teams battled through 6.5 scoreless innings, it looked as though VWC's bottom of the seventh was about to end the same way with two outs recorded ... until Dailey (Norfolk, Va./Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox) stepped up to the plate.  She kept the Marlins alive by blasting a triple down the left field line.

That brought Pettit (Onancock, Va./Nandua) up to bat for only the second time in the game.  But, the steady senior came through with the game-winning hit, belting a single into right field to score Dailey.

It was one of those days when the bats almost went silent for VWC, one of the top hitting teams in the ODAC. The Marlins managed only two five hits, with two from senior Brianna Bertovich (Richmond, Va./J.R. Tucker).  While Emory & Henry (13-24) entered the game as the No. 8 seed in the event, Virginia Wesleyan (28-10) entered as the No. 1 seed and owners of a .343 team batting average. 

Emory & Henry also had a tough time with the bats, connecting only four times.  VWC's defense, and the pitching of rookie ace Kristina Karagiorgis (Ashburn, Va./Briar Wood) retired the Wasps 1-2-3 three times.  E&H's only real scoring threat came in the top of the sixth when Jenae Morrissey (Utica, N.Y./Thomas R. Proctor) led off with a single and eventually advanced to third before VWC came up with the side-retiring out.

Morrissey led the Wasps with two hits off Karagiorgis, who faced only 27 batters overall.  She struck out 10 to increase her season total to 114, the third highest number by a VWC rookie pitcher and seventh highest single-season number overall.

Brandy Bryant (Salem, Va./Glenvar) pitched for the Wasps and struck out six and walked four.

Virginia Wesleyan continues tournament competition today at 6 p.m., taking on Bridgewater College.  The Eagles advanced with a 5-3 win over Lynchburg College.

All tournament competition is taking place at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem.

--AMDG--