The Virginia Wesleyan University softball team (48-3-1, 21-1) defeated the No. 6 Linfield 8-4 to punch their ticket to the NCAA semifinals.
The Marlins' offense was
Olivia Knight who was 3-for-4 with a double, scored a run, and had two RBI.
Mackenzie Myers was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and scored two runs.
Samantha Deitsch was 1-for-4 with a deep double and two RBI.
Lauren Bible pitched well in the circle, 6.0 innings, allowed four runs, four hits, and one strikeout.
Emma Adams came in to finish the game and allowed one hit and zero runs to seal the win.
Virginia Wesleyan kicked off the scoring in the second inning as
Olivia Knight started things off with a single through the left side.
Haley Sadler followed with a sharp single to right center, moving Knight up to second. After
Alexis Hudgens laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position,
Sarah Prosser stepped in and grounded out to second base, but it was enough to bring Knight home for the game's first run. The Marlins walked away with one run on two hits, setting the tone early with a 1–0 lead.
The Marlins led off the top of the third inning with a lead off single, followed by another single by
Mackenzie Myers to put runners on first and second. With one out and two runners on
Olivia Knight hit a double to center field to score both runners and increase the Marlins' lead to 3-0.
VWU kept up the pressure in the fourth inning as
Sarah Prosser led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Piotrowski walked followed by a single from
Laci Campbell to load up the bases for the cleanup batter
Morgan Tucker who grounded out to second, but that allowed Prosser to score to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead. With runners on second and third
Samantha Deitsch doubled to center field that scored Piotrowski and Campbell to put VWU up 6-0 in the top of the fourth inning.
Linfield got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer to cut the Marlins lead to 6-2.
Virginia Wesleyan tacked on some more runs in the sixth inning as
Laci Campbell singled up the middle to lead off the inning, followed by a home run to left field that put the Marlins up 8-2.
Linfield didn't fall easy, as they scored two runs on one hit in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to 8-4.
Good defense and precise pitching kept the Linfield offense quiet the rest of the game as the Marlins defeated the Wildcats 8-4.
