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DIVISION III NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS |
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May 17-21, 2001 Carson Park Eau Claire, Wis. |
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Final Score The Highlights: Rachael Powers, Wheaton: 2-for-2, 1 run, RBI Katie Morris, William Patterson: 3-for-4, 1 run
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William Patterson
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Wheaton
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — "It's never over until it's over."
Yogi Berra may have said it, but it was Wheaton that proved how right he was.
The Lyons, three outs away from elimination in three straight innings, scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning — with Katie Zuman's RBI single to center driving in the game-winning run from second — as Wheaton outlasted William Patterson 5-4 in a loser's bracket elimination game at the NCAA Division III National Championships at Gelein Field.
Wheaton, which needed two runs in the bottom of the seventh and one in the bottom of the eighth just to stay alive, opened the bottom of the ninth with a single by Carmella Ranieri, who had entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and delivered an RBI triple. Ranieri stole second and moved to third on a deep fly-out by Amanda Dow-Allen. Maren Schrader scored Ranieri with a single up the middle, moved to second on a bunt single by Jill D'Arcy and scored the winning run on Zuman's base hit.
Diana Badger had given the Pioneers a short-lived, 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, scoring Katie Morris from second on a single to center.
The Pioneers appeared to have the game locked up twice before, but each time the Lyons battled back in the bottom half of the inning.
Lauren Hertzberg led off the Pioneers' eighth inning with a single, and, with two outs, stole second and scored on Liz Carroll's RBI bloop single to shallow left field. The lead didn't last long, however, as Wheaton tied the game again in the bottom of the eighth, getting an RBI sacrifice fly to deep center field by Rachel Powers, scoring Zuman, who led off the inning with a walk.
The Pioneers had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, thanks to Hertzberg's one-out triple and an RBI squeeze bunt groundout from Diana Naugle. But the Lyons, who had been held to four singles through the game's first six innings, scored twice in the bottom of the seventh — the first on Ranieri's pinch-hit triple and the second on a single off the glove of William Patterson third baseman Danielle Battoni by No. 9 hitter Dow-Allen.
Ranieri, Zuman, Rachel Powers, Lucy Campbell and Maren Schrader all collected two hits for the Lyons, who will now face the loser of Friday evening's winner's bracket game between Central and Roanoke. Morris went 3-for-4 with a run scored and Badger and Hertzberg each added two hits in the losing effort for William Patterson, which ends its season at 39-10.