BETHANY, W.Va. – After capturing the program’s 13th PAC championship Saturday, the Bethany College softball team (29-14) will begin play at NCAA Regionals Thursday when it takes on Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) College at 2 p.m. at Adrian (Mich.) College, who will serve as host for the eight-team Regional.
The Bison are the sixth-seed and if they should defeat the third-seeded Yellow Jackets (27-9) Thursday, they will advance to play the winner of the #2 Alma (Mich.)/#7 Hiram (Ohio) match-up Friday at 4 p.m. The loser of the BC/B-W game will take on the loser of the Alma (33-6)/Hiram (25-12) contest Friday at noon in the double-elimination tournament.
The other side of the Adrian bracket includes #1 DePauw (Ind.), who is 27-8-1, taking on #8 D’Youville (N.Y.), who has a 21-8 record, and #4 Trine (Mich.) with a 27-11 mark, playing #5 Ohio Northern (26-12). The tournament runs through Sunday, with the possibility of an If Necessary game Monday morning at 10 a.m.
Bethany earned the top seed and hosting rights for the PAC Tournament and swept through the conference playoffs with three straight wins to secure its first league crown since 2008. Sophomore pitcher Emily Jump (Milford, Del./Polytech) threw two complete game gems on the first day in a 1-0 win over Waynesburg and a 2-1 triumph over Thomas More.
In the championship game against Thomas More, senior Cortney Newland (Carmichaels, Pa.) tossed a four-hit shutout and senior 2B Chelsea Butler (Cortland, Ohio/Lakeview) hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give BC a 1-0 win and the conference title. Butler was selected was the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, while Jump, Newland, sophomore RF Maria Vallone (Rochester, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) and sophomore 1B Angie Varhula (West Mifflin, Pa.) were picked for the All-Tournament team..
The Tournament efforts of Jump and Newland continued a season-long trend for the Bison pitchers. Jump compiled a 17-6 record this spring with four shutouts, 94 strikeouts and 2.90 ERA in 157 innings of work. Newland’s shutout in the title game was her second of the year and raised her record to 12-7 overall with a 3.20 ERA and 45 Ks in 122 2/3 frames.
Bethany also boasts a strong 1-2 punch in the middle of the line with Vallone and senior 3B Andrea Thomas (Toronto, Ohio). Vallone is hitting ..459 this season and has tied her own single-season hits record from a year ago with 62. She has also scored a team-best 33 runs, cracked 10 doubles, drawn 14 walks and driven in 23. Thomas is exactly one hit behind Vallone with 61 and has a .452 average, which goes along with her team-leading four homers, 36 RBIs and 17 doubles.
Surrounding those two is a solid cast of contributors. In her first year as a starter, Varhula, who batted .500 during the Tournament, is hitting .352 with nine doubles and 15 RBIs, while Butler, who became Bethany’s all-time leader in career hits this year (188), scored 32 runs and batted .342 out of the leadoff spot. Senior OF Cortney Lax (Orrville, Ohio) hit .292 and knocked in 14 and sophomore catcher Liz Kletzli (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) drove in 17 and posted a .282 average as well.
This is Bethany’s sixth overall trip to the NCAA Regionals and the team has a 7-10 record in their five previous appearances. The Bison have made two significant runs in the tournament, with the first coming in 2002 when BC swept through the Central Regional with four straight wins and advanced to the College World Series for the first time in school history. In its last trip in 2008, Bethany entered Regionals with a 24-23 record, but upset higher-seeded Rochester and Ramapo to finish third overall the eight-team Ithaca Regional.
The Bison’s opening opponent comes from the Ohio Athletic Conference and is making its first NCAA trip since 1992. Baldwin-Wallace also won its league tournament in three straight games, beating John Carroll 3-0, Mount Union 6-5 and Ohio Northern in the championship game 2-1 on a walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth by freshman SS Lauren Feciuch. After starting the year 8-0, the Yellow Jackets played .500 ball (8-8) after returning from Florida before heating up again at the right time. The OAC Tournament sweep gives B-W 11 wins in its last 12 games.
The Yellow Jackets bring a potent line-up into the tournament, as they have hit 27 home runs and are averaging 5.5 runs per game. Freshman OF Ashley Elber has done a lot of damage, hitting .425 with six long balls and 24 RBIs, while freshman OF/P Tabitha Murray is batting .404 with six blasts and 24 RBIs as well. Senior OF/C Tanya Davis leads the team with 27 RBIs to go along with four home runs and a .358 average and freshman IF Kaity Mullen is right behind her with 26 RBIs and a .352 average.
In addition to having four freshmen among their top eight position players, the youthful Yellow Jackets also have two first-year hurlers highlighting their pitching corps. Freshman Justina Wise led the staff with a 15-5 record and 78 punchouts in 112 2/3 innings and Murray was 6-0 with 35 Ks in 46 2/3 frames of work. Junior Sarah Baker (6-4, 3.04 ERA) and senior lefty Mackenzie Rohrbacher (11 games pitched, 3.88 ERA) have also logged significant time in the circle this season for B-W.
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