SALEM, Va. --- Virginia Wesleyan University may not have been the top seed for the first time since 2011, but its championship pedigree remains intact. The third-seeded Marlins defeated fourth-seeded Roanoke College, 1-0, in the second of two championship games on Monday afternoon, capping a weather-impacted four days at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va., with the program's sixth straight and league-record 14th ODAC softball crown.
Virginia Wesleyan (33-11), ranked 14th in the country by the NFCA, needed a second title contest to earn the ODAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament after 17th-ranked Roanoke (30-12) earned a 5-3 victory in Monday's first contest. The Maroons, along with ODAC hopefuls Randolph-Macon College (32-9) and University of Lynchburg (26-19) must rely on the Division III Softball Committee for at-large selections to the 64-team national field. The bracket will be announced on Monday, May 9 on www.ncaa.com.
RELATED: All-Time ODAC Championships | 2022 Tournament Bracket
Defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan entered Monday's first game in the driver's seat, a position it would need following Roanoke's 5-3 victory in Game 14 to force a winner-take-all showdown in Game 15.
Roanoke jumped on the board in the first inning of the first game via a RBI single from leftfielder Kate Houle. They tacked on two more in the second when pitcher Shanan Hester singled to left-center to bring around Lilly Burns and Serenity Bishop plated Sammie Murphy with a sacrifice fly to left.
Both of those runs were unearned, as was the Maroons' fourth tally in the third inning with Virginia Wesleyan making three defensive miscues in the contest. RC catcher Rachel Sirbaugh hit a sac fly to left-center to bring around Houle for a 4-0 lead through 2.5 innings.
Meanwhile, Hester not only kept VWU off the scoreboard, but did not allow a hit until Maria Weddle singled to left near the line with two out in the third inning. Virginia Wesleyan's runs came a inning later thanks to a big swing from Madison Hudson. The Marlins designated player put a charge into a Hester pitch and cleared the left-center field wall for a three-run homer, her second of the season.
Now leading by just one at 4-3, Houle quickly gave Roanoke its multi-run edge with a solo shot to centerfield for her third hit of the game. That also marked her third homer of the year.
Roanoke righty Jada Karnes fired four innings of shutout relief to pick up the win and improve to 20-4 on the year. Lauren Bible, VWU's starter, was saddle with the loss to bring her record to 10-4.
RELATED: Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
Game two may have only featured one run, but that does not mean it was devoid of intensity or two teams pulling out all the stops to try to extend and match their opponents' efforts. There were 12 different changes made to batting orders or runners on-base by head coaches Brandon Elliott (VWU) and Mike Mitchell (RC) as both were searching for the edge that would put them over the top.
It was an old-fashioned battle of aces with Karnes squaring off against VWU's Emily Seale. Karnes allowed just three hits and fanned three against just one walk, but the lone run of the game came against her in the fourth inning. The Marlins got a leadoff double from Ariana Rolle. After a Weddle ground out moved her up 60-feet to third base, tournament MOP Julia Sinnett registered her seventh RBI of the weekend with a grounder to second.
That would be all the offense Seale needed. Despite giving up eight hits and walking a batter, she scattered those baserunners to keep her run total unblemished. She struck out four Maroons in improving to 19-4.
Listed below is a the 2022 All-Tournament Team. For more information, visit the websites of any participating school, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
- Sophie Tully, 1B, Lynchburg
- Gracie Ellis, P, Randolph-Macon
- Amanda Lanyon, OF, Randolph-Macon
- Naomi Sadler, OF, Randolph-Macon
- Meri Bostic, 2B, Roanoke
- Shanan Hester, SS/P, Roanoke
- Kate Houle, OF/C, Roanoke
- Rachel Sirbaugh, C, Roanoke
- Madison Hudson, DP, Virginia Wesleyan
- Caitlyn Myers, C, Virginia Wesleyan
- Ariana Rolle, OF, Virginia Wesleyan
- Emily Seale, P, Virginia Wesleyan
- Julia Sinnett, 3B, Virginia Wesleyan -- MOP