SALEM, Va. -- Virginia Wesleyan College's softball Marlins secured a place in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game on Sunday, April 28, by defeating the only league team to pin a loss on them this season.

The No. 17-ranked Marlins posted a 7-1 victory over No. 19-ranked Lynchburg College at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex to advance to the title game for the second time in three years.  Sunday's title game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Saturday's victory avenges a pair of losses to Lynchburg during the regular season, both at Lynchburg.  The Hornets won those games 6-1 and 3-2 on April 7.  VWC went on to finish 18-2 in the league.

The rematch in the ODAC tournament was dominated by Virginia Wesleyan (37-6), which outhit Lynchburg 13-4.  Junior Season Dailey (Norfolk/Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox) led the Marlins with a 3-for-3 day wit the bat, belting a home run and two singles.  Junior Tori Higginbotham (Glen Allen/J.R. Tucker) followed with a triple and two singles, and rookie Courtney Bogan (Round Hill/Woodgrove) belted a pair of singles.

Virginia Wesleyan ended a scoreless game with a two-run second inning, which started with consecutive singles by Dailey, Bogan and rookie Taylor Galvin (Virginia Beach/Kempsville).  Galvin's shot up the middle scored two runs.

The Marlins extended their lead to 5-0 with a three-run third inning.  Higginbotham led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kelly Keys (Manassas/Osbourn Park).  Kristina Karagioris (Ashburn/Briar Woods) singled home a run and Dailey homered to left field to score two runs.

Virginia Wesleyan tacked on single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to open up a 7-0 lead, before Lynchburg (32-10) averted the shutout in the top of the seventh with a single run.

Junior Mackenzie Creech (Hillsborough, N.C./Orange) picked up the pitching win, going the distance and striking out three batters.  She walked six and gave up just four hits and one earned run. The victory improved Creech's record to 20-3. She is only the fourth pitcher in VWC's successful softball history to hit the 20-win plateau.

Lynchburg used three pitchers, starting with Hope Johnson (Evington/Brookville), who took the loss and dropped to 16-4.

--AMDG--