Rowan softball’s season on the brink after run-rule loss to Redlands in Division III championship
The double-elimination format of the championship means that the Profs have at least one more opportunity to extend their season. They’ll face Mount Union or Belhaven at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
After shocking the No. 1 team in Division III softball on Thursday, Rowan was unable to keep its momentum alive.
On Friday, eighth-seeded Rowan lost, 10-2, to to No. 5 seed Redlands in the winner’s bracket of the Division III softball championship in Salem, Va., near Roanoke. The game was called in the fifth inning after the Bulldogs, who hail from Southern California, extended their lead to eight runs.
The double-elimination format of the championship means that the Profs (43-9) have at least one more opportunity to extend their season. They’ll face the winner between No. 6 Mount Union and No. 7 Belhaven in an elimination game on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ncaa.com).
The Profs’ postseason run this year has been fueled by stellar pitching, but on Friday senior Emily McCutcheon allowed seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits in 3⅓ innings. Sophomore BethAnne Doderer walked four and allowed three runs on three hits over the final 1⅓ innings.
» READ MORE: Pitcher Emily McCutcheon anchors Rowan softball’s Division III championship chase
In Thursday’s 3-2 win, McCutcheon, the Profs’ ace with a 22-6 record and 1.20 ERA, tossed a complete game, with just two runs on four hits. She leads a staff that has three shutouts in nine postseason games, but Rowan’s offense is averaging just 2.2 runs in that stretch.
Like Thursday, Rowan struck first. Sophomore Ava Fisher, who has a .363 batting average and team-best 1.029 OPS, doubled in freshman Zoey Rogers in the top of the first inning.
But the Profs’ one-run lead didn’t last long. The Bulldogs (45-6) scored three runs in the bottom of the first, and each team added a run in the third. But Redlands broke the game open with a five-run fourth, led by a two-RBI double by Katlyn Gandara, who also was the winning pitcher.
“Those games aren’t easy,” Rogers told reporters postgame. “It’s exciting in that first inning, you put a run on the board and you score first, and that’s always our goal, score first, and it’s hard. They started putting the ball in play, and they applied pressure, and they did a really good job of that. We didn’t respond the way that we should have, and they capitalized on it, and it stinks, but it just gives us more motivation to come back tomorrow and fight for it.”