Rowan baseball and softball punch their tickets to the Division III championship
Rowan softball swept Colby to advance to their fourth consecutive Division III championship, while the baseball team swept Randolph-Macon for their second straight championship appearance.
Rowan baseball and softball are heading to the Division III championship.
After sweeping Colby in the NCAA super regionals on Thursday and Friday, the softball team (42-9) is advancing to the championship for the fourth consecutive season and the 10th time in program history.
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The Profs’ 3-0 win on Friday came on a combined shutout between sophomore pitcher BethAnne Doderer and senior Emily McCutcheon (Audubon). Doderer pitched 3⅔ innings, and McCutcheon finished the remaining 3⅓. It was Rowan’s third consecutive shutout.
Sophomore Ava Fisher (Blackwood, Camden County; St. Joseph’s Academy) hit a two-run home run in the first inning to power the Profs to an early lead. They added another run in the third inning.
Rowan’s 1-0 walk-off win over the Mules (30-14) on Thursday ended on an error. McCutcheon, who was named the super regional’s Most Valuable Pitcher, threw a complete-game shutout and allowed three hits in seven innings.
Rowan baseball’s games were more offensively driven. The Profs defeated Randolph-Macon, 11-7, in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Friday and followed it with a 9-5 victory in Game 2.
Rowan (37-5) recorded 12 hits in the second game on Friday, but the most important hit was a grand slam from junior Joey Bogart (Gloucester Catholic) in the ninth inning that broke a 5-5 tie.
Sophomore Austin Kreyenhagen (Souderton) threw a complete game, giving up five runs on seven hits and striking out five Yellow Jackets (29-17).
This is the second year in a row the baseball team is advancing to the D-III championship, which this year is in Eastlake, Ohio.
The baseball championship follows an eight-team, double-elimination format. The two remaining teams will face off for the championship in a best-of-three series. The tournament begins on Friday.
For eighth-seeded Rowan softball, the championship begins against top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan at 11 a.m. Thursday in Salem, Va. Last season, the Profs won their first game against Texas Lutheran before dropping the next two to Trine and Randolph-Macon.