HAVERFORD, Pa. – After winning its first NCAA Regional Championship in program history following a 7-6 victory against No. 2 Salisbury, the Haverford College softball team is now set for a best-of-three series against No. 11 Messiah beginning this Friday at 3 p.m. The Fords came out of the Norfolk, Virginia regional that featured the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the entire country.
The winner of this weekend's series will be one of eight teams moving on to Salem, Virginia for the 2016 NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
Schedule
Game 1: Friday, May 20 (3 p.m.)
Game 2: Saturday, May 21 (12 p.m.)
Game 3: Saturday, May 21 (2:30 p.m.) – If necessary
About Haverford
The Haverford pitching staff has been outstanding during the postseason. Haverford has maintained a 1.86 staff ERA since the beginning of the Centennial Conference Tournament. Last weekend the Fords won a pair of 1-0 games behind a combined shutout from Sara Tauriello and Kendall Chambers against No. 2 Salisbury. Chambers then came back the next day with a complete game shutout against Saint Vincent.
Chambers, the Norfolk, Virginia Regional MVP, has a 1.25 ERA to go along with three wins and two saves in her seven postseason appearances this year. She has a pair of complete games in her 22.1 innings of postseason work that included getting the Fords out of a precarious situation that captured the regional title. Tauriello has yet to be beaten in the postseason. She has a 1.65 ERA and perfect 3-0 record in her seven postseason appearances which include five starts. She has struck out 31 batters in her 34 postseason innings. Opponents are hitting just .218 off the left hander.
Two of the Fords' pitchers, Emily Winesett and Chambers, are also expected to see time in the lineup this weekend. Chambers blasted the solo home run that propelled the Fords to their first win against Salisbury. Winesett has also appeared in three games in the circle and is 1-0 in those outings. She has also scored six runs in Haverford's nine postseason contests.
Haverford has three players hitting over .300 during the postseason. Rachel Wolfson and Miwa Wenzel are each batting a team-best .333 during the postseason. Wolfson, who has 12 hits in her 36 postseason at-bats, also has three extra-base hits and is slugging .417 during this stretch. Wenzel is getting on base at .379 clip. Kristin Tatum is batting .308 with a team-best .455 on-base percentage in the postseason. She is leading the team with six runs driven in during the past nine games.
Looking back at the entire season, Julia Blake is leading the team with a .331 batting average. She is tied with Winesett for a team-best six runs scored during the postseason and has a team-leading 10 doubles throughout the year. Kaitlyn Guild is batting .313 on the season. She is one of four players in the Fords' lineup with at least 25 runs batted in. Rounding out the infield, first-team all-conference performer Jessica Koshinski is leading the team with 33 runs batted in. Koshinski and Guild each have four RBI during the postseason.
In addition to Winesett and Wenzel, Alex Craig will fill the third outfield slot. Craig has scored 20 runs during the course of the season. Emily Gorman also provides depth to the outfield as the Fords' sophomore has made 40 starts this season. She has eight runs scored and driven in so far this year.
Scouting Messiah
Messiah advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals with a walk-off wild pitch against No. 10 Christopher Newport. The Falcons (42-3) went a perfect 3-0 during regional action in a three-team regional that included Ferrum. Haverford snapped Salisbury's 17-game winning streak to start the NCAA Regional. Messiah enters the Super Regional weekend riding an 18-game winning streak.
The Falcons have three pitchers who have carried the vast majority of the pitching load. Of that group, Courtney Allen has thrown over half of the team's innings. She is 24-0 on the season with a 1.57 ERA in 164.2 innings. She has thrown a complete game in 17 of her 26 starts this season and has two shutouts. She was the starting pitcher in each of the Falcons' three regional games last weekend.
Backing her up will be Madelyn Yannetti and Carrie Fix. Fix has started 16 games and has a 2.85 ERA to go along with a 9-2 record. She has two complete games on the year. Yannetti has made 22 of her 25 appearances in relief and has the team's only three saves. She is 9-1 with a 1.50 ERA on the year.
Messiah has eight players in the lineup who have started all 45 games this season. Of that group, six of them are hitting over .340 on the year. The Falcons carry a .351 team batting average into the weekend. Amanda Jones leads all hitters with a .445 average, while teammate Becky Notte is hitting .424 on the season. Erin Cressman provides the power in the lineup as the .383 hitter has 11 home runs this season.
Series History
Friday's meeting between these two teams will be the first meeting in school history.
Common Opponents
Despite not having any previous meetings in program history, the Fords and Falcons had six common opponents on their 2016 schedules. Both teams swept Alvernia with Haverford coming away with 7-2 and 5-2 victories. Messiah won back-to-back 6-5 contests against the Crusaders. Both teams also swept Arcadia with Haverford winning by 11-5 and 5-4 scores. Messiah won by 4-3 and 9-3 scores during that time.
Messiah also sweep Dickinson and Widener. The Fords split with Dickinson during the regular season and dropped both ends of the non-conference doubleheader against the Pride. Messiah has single wins against Alfred and Rowan. Haverford lost a home doubleheader to Rowan and was edged out by Alfred during the team's trip to Florida over Spring Break.
Up Next:
Whether it takes two games or three, the winner of this weekend's Super Regional will head to Salem, Virginia next weekend to compete for the national championship. The Division III National Championship will run from May 26-31.