Messiah softball ends record season at NCAA Championships

When the dust settled on the final day of the NCAA Division III Softball Championships, Messiah’s four seniors removed their cleats, walked to home plate and left the shoes in a small pile. Truly, they left it all on the field, and that’s the only way the season could end.

Messiah softball won eight games in the NCAA Tournament, including three games at the softball championships, before falling short of the national title to the University of Texas at Tyler. The loss to the Patriots left the Falcons as the national runner-up, an accomplishment bested only by their National Championship in 2009.

I’m very proud of our girls,” Head Coach Amy Weaver ’91 said. “They got our team as far as we could go, and being runner-up in the country is pretty incredible.

The Falcons’ run to the championship series started with three-straight wins at the Christopher Newport Regional and then two more wins over Haverford College in the NCAA Super Regional hosted by Messiah. Three of those five victories came by a single run to advance to the softball championships for the first time since 2011.

At the championships, hosted in Salem, Virginia, Messiah won their first three games. They slugged their way to a 9-6 win over Rowan University, pitched to a 3-1 decision over MIT on the second and beat Rowan once more, this time 9-1.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to go through this with any other group of girls,” said third baseman Brooke Pompeo ’16, who was named All-Tournament in all three NCAA Tournament weekends. “We all wanted this to be the best ride for our entire team.”

The team finished with a program-record 47 wins. On their way to the runner-up finish, a number of players either reached statistical milestones or were recognized with distinguished awards. Pitcher Courtney Allen ’16 was named National Fastpitch Coaches Association Second Team All-American and CoSIDA Academic Division III All-American of the Year for Softball.

Allen also was nominated for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year Award. At press time, she was one of two nominations from the MAC Commonwealth in consideration as a finalist from all of Division III.

—Steve King ’06, associate athletics director