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Messiah Rally Beats William Paterson, Puts Club In Regional 'Ship
Posted: 5/9/2009
Box Score | More Softball news
Freshman Jaclyn Merkel knocked in two of Messiah's runs in dramatic, rally fashion Saturday.

Mahwah, NJ – Messiah head coach Amy Weaver has sung praises over her team’s relentless attitude throughout the 2009 season.

Saturday against William Paterson University in NCAA Regional play, that attribute was on display in full force.

Messiah rebounded from a mistake-filled first-inning to rally for a 4-2 win over the Pioneers, advancing to the Ramapo College NCAA Division III Regional Championship Sunday afternoon as a result. Messiah will play the winner of Sunday’s William Patterson-Rowan University tilt – slated for 12 p.m. – for the right to advance to the program’s third World Series appearance.

“These girls are determined,” Weaver said following Messiah’s most drama-packed game of the weekend’s double-elimination tournament thus far. “They do not put themselves out of games. They seem to always believe that we’ll find a way to get it done. Thankfully today, we did.”

Things could have been much worse off following one inning of play for the Falcons, as back-to-back walks from freshman pitcher Jessica Rhoads – followed by an intentional pass – loaded the bases before an out had been retired in the bottom of the stanza. William Paterson (33-8) scored its first off a passed ball and its second off a single to left field, but Rhoads was able to minimize the damage behind two strikeouts and a pop out.

Playing as the designated visiting team for the first time in regional play – NCAA rules designate such for competitive balance in the post-season – Messiah found itself down for the first time of the weekend.

“I think Jess was a bit nervous early, and I think that in turn rattled the rest of our girls a little bit,” Weaver said. “When we finally got out of it, we just talked about focusing totally to the task at hand. We didn’t need to worry about what the fans were saying, we just had to focus on what we could control.”

For Rhoads, that message hit home almost instantly.

Following a direct talk with pitching coach Alex Quigley, Rhoads found an extreme groove, allowing the Pioneers just two base runners the rest of the afternoon. She struck out 10, failed to walk another batter following the first inning and retired 16 of William Patterson’s final 18 outs in succession.

“(Jess and Alex) had a pretty direct talk following that first inning,” Weaver said, “but that’s the kind of relationship they have. They know each other so well, it’s just total honesty between them.”

With Rhoads now in All-American form, Messiah got the breaks it needed to tie the game in the visitor’s half of the third. A single from freshman Ashley Lehman was sandwiched between a pair of outs, and the Falcons’ got a two-out rally thanks largely to William Paterson miscues. Sophomore Rebekkah Funk got on base following an error by the Pioneers’ third baseman, while freshman Jaclyn Merkel followed with a single to left, scoring Lehman.

Rhoads then beat out a throw after the Pioneers’ shortstop bobbled a routine grounder, and Funk crossed the plate wearing the emotion on her sleeve:

After a calamity of a first inning, Messiah had things knotted at 2-2.

A repeat of Friday’s Jessica Rhoads Show would give the Falcons the lead for good.

After blasting a solo homer to give Messiah the first of its three runs in the team’s 3-0 win over Moravian 24 hours earlier, Rhoads duplicated the feat in Saturday’s sixth inning, taking a pitch from the Pioneers’ Michele Graham and going to the opposite field – easily clearing the fence despite stiff winds blowing in.

The dinger was Rhoads’ fifth of the year, coming at the most needed of times.

Weaver’s club then added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, as a lead off single from freshman Lauren Seneca would eventually be pushed across. Following an Abi Buchler (freshman) bunt that moved Seneca to second, the Falcons’ shortstop was eventually brought in thanks to two singles – the first from Funk and the second from Merkel. That blast brought Merkel’s hitting line to 2-2 with two RBI on the afternoon, while providing Rhoads a bit more comfort heading into the bottom of the inning.

Of course, she wouldn’t need it.

Rhoads (23-1) recorded a pop up, a fly out and then a strikeout to end the game.

“At this stage, you have to be good in all phases of the game,” Weaver said. “You’ve got to hit, pitch and defend. If you don’t, you’re going to get beat. Today I thought we really settled in and played well. Our girls get fired up with the bats in their hands. We always talk like we don’t have enough runs, no matter what the score is. That, and we played pretty well defensively after the first inning. It really was just another good team win for us.”

With the victory, Messiah moves into the regional championship game – to be played Sunday at approximately 2 p.m. The top-seeded Falcons will face the winner of the William Paterson (two seed)-Rowan University (three seed) game, scheduled to begin at noon.

Should the Falcons lose Sunday’s championship game, a winner-take-all, final game would be played Monday at a time yet to be announced.

For Weaver, however, thoughts are now solely on Sunday.

“We’re going to approach Sunday’s game the exact same way we’ve approached every game we’ve played this year, and that’s with a ‘one game at a time’ mentality,” she said. “All year we’ve done that, to the point that (our coaching staff) won’t look at a team’s stats until they’re the next game on our schedule. We want our kids thinking that way, so we’ve tried to honor that as a staff as well.”

Fans can follow real-time score and schedule updates at the official Ramapo College Regional website through the conclusion of the double-elimination tournament.