No. 20 Marietta stays alive in NCAA Tournament with a 2-1 victory over No. 18 Methodist
Lady Pioneers take the field again Saturday at 4 p.m.

May 12, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — It was battle of the top two seeds in the NCAA Softball Division III Fayetteville Regional Saturday (May 12) morning on the campus of Methodist University. The matchup pitted top-seeded No. 18 Methodist against second-seeded No. 20 Marietta College in an elimination game. The Lady Pioneers starved off elimination for the second straight day with a 2-1 victory to advance to Saturday's 4 p.m. game against the winner of the Salisbury (Md.) and Christopher Newport (Va.) elimination game which began at 12 p.m.

The victory improved Marietta's record to 34-11, while Methodist finished the year 33-10. The Pioneers' 34 wins is a new school record, surpassing the 33 of a year ago.

Marietta was actually out-hit six to five in the win. Methodist committed two errors in the game.

Senior Kristen Quintana (Denver, Colo./Littleton) picked up the complete game victory to improve to 23-8 on the spring. The right-hander scattered one run on six hits and struck out five in seven innings. She increased her season strikeout total to 268 and her career mark to 661.

The Pioneers gave Quintana a 1-0 advantage with back-to-back shots to right field. The first, off the bat of junior Brandy Jacob (Wellington/Keystone), was ruled a two-base error and came with two outs. Sophomore Emily McComb (Gnadenhutten/Indian Valley) followed with a RBI double just inside the right field line. Jacob scored easily from second base.

The Monarchs were able to tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth. Megan Hutson single through the left side with two outs. Hutson then raced around to score on a double to left field by Rebekah Kelly, who ended the inning by being thrown out at third as she tried to stretch the hit into a triple.

Marietta came right back with the game-winning run in the top of the sixth. McComb greeted the new Methodist pitcher, freshman Emily Beck, with a single up the middle. Senior Jenny Carroll (Lisbon/Beaver Local) sacrificed her to second with a bunt. Senior Lindsey Romick (Hannibal/River), who broke out of a 0-19 slump with a double in the second, singled to right center and moved to second on the throw. McComb was held up at third. Sophomore Nikki Driscoll (Bellaire) jumped on a 2-0 fastball and hit a fly ball to left field. The Monarch fielder caught the ball, but McComb scampered home to give the lead back to the Pioneers, 2-1.

Quintana allowed a base runner in both the sixth and seventh innings, but a Hutson grounder tup the middle was snagged by diving Carroll, who crawled to second base for the force out, starting the Pioneer celebration.

Both McComb and Romick finished 2-for-3 in the win. Freshman Katie Woolf (Louisville) had the only other Pioneer hit. It was a pinch-hit single in the seventh. Kelly had two hits in the loss for Methodist.

Lesley Hewitt started the game for the Monarchs. She allowed one unearned run on two hits and fanned five in five innings. Beck (12-8), who took the loss, was charged with one run on three hits in two frames.

Saturday's second game will be carried locally on WMOA-AM 1490 and online at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/onlinebroadcasts.html. Chris Wharff and Sports Information Director Dan May will bring you pitch-by-pitch, beginning at 3:50 p.m.