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Messiah Stays Patient, Beats Staten Island To Open Regionals
Posted: 5/7/2009
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After junior Abby Bergakker finally cleared the wall Thursday, the floodgates opened for the Falcons.

Mahwah, NJ — After four and a half innings of play at Thursday’s NCAA Regional-opening tilt at Ramapo College’s Athletic Center, Messiah and the College of Staten Island were deadlocked in a scoreless tie.

Not that Falcons’ head coach Amy Weaver felt the score was appropriate.

Weaver cited seven instances throughout Messiah’s first four at-bats where home runs would have occurred, had it not been for a stiff wind blowing directly into the ballpark.

“They made seven catches at the warning track,” Weaver said. “Seven! We hit the ball to the fence 10 times. We were pounding the ball, but we just couldn’t get it out with the wind (blowing) the way it was.”

That was, until the bottom of the fifth inning.

Junior catcher Abby Bergakker pulled a deep shot just to the fair side of the left field foul pole, giving her team the first score of the game and — as it would be — all the momentum to blow things open. As freshman pitching ace Jessica Rhoads delivered another dominating performance (11 strikeouts with just one hit allowed), Messiah erupted for three more runs in the sixth to capture a 4-0 win over the Dolphins — staying in the winners bracket at the eight-team regional.

“We kept saying after each inning, ‘It’s just a matter of time,’” Weaver said. “We knew we were hitting the ball well. I don’t think any of us thought that we weren’t going to string some hits together.”

Messiah (36-4) rapped CSI’s Danielle Ponsiglione for just one hit through the team’s first four at-bats, a statistic largely influenced by the Falcons’ deep fly-outs. Meanwhile, Rhoads (21-1) was having another outstanding day in the pitching circle, tossing a no-hitter through six complete innings of work.

Rhoads appearance in and of itself was impressive, as the first-year star was unable to play in the MAC Commonwealth Championship after being struck in the throwing hand with a line drive in last Friday’s contest against Lebanon Valley College.

While dominant against Staten Island (23-13) Thursday, Weaver said Rhoads was operating at “around 90 percent.”

“(Her hand) is still bothering her a little bit, but the good sign is that she still threw really well today,” Weaver said.

Bergakker’s third homer of the season provided Rhoads all the insurance she would need, as Messiah tacked on three additional scores in the sixth for good measure. A one-out single from freshman Abi Buchler was followed by sophomore Rebekkah Stackhouse bunting on, while an ensuing single from freshman Jaclyn Merkel scored Buchler. Funk then scored off an error by the Dolphins’ catcher, while a single from junior Lindsay Hall plated Merkel.

Staten Island’s Joanna Tepedino singled to left field in the top of the seventh to break up Rhoads’ no-hitter, but the Messiah ace struck out the Dolphins’ next two batters to end the game with an absence of drama.

Thursday’s action was delayed due to a passing storm system through northern New Jersey, as top-seeded Messiah and eighth-seeded Staten Island were slated to meet at 10 a.m. As groundskeepers feverishly worked on the field, the Ramapo College Regional started at 12 p.m.

Messiah will now face longtime conference rival Moravian College (35-9) Friday, as the fourth-seeded Greyhounds defeated fifth-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University by a 4-1 score in Thursday’s second game.

Messiah and Moravian are tentatively scheduled to play at 2 p.m. Friday — a time that may be altered if all four Thursday games can’t be completed due to darkness. Check the official Ramapo College Regional website for the most up-to-date schedule information on the double-elimination tournament.