Ramapo College Roadrunners

Mahwah, NJ: The Mahwah, NJ First Round seedings stood strong as they #1 seeded Falcons of Messiah College defeated the #2 seeded Pioneers of William Paterson, 6-1 this afternoon at the Athletic Center at Ramapo College. Messiah advances to the Championship Round next weekend being held at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ. Messiah enters next week’s championship round standing at 39-4 overall. William Paterson finishes the year at 35-13.

The Falcons struck first in the 2nd inning when junior catcher Abby Bergakker (Grand Rapids, MI) doubled to right field with one out on the board. Ashley Lehman (Lancaster, PA) drove in Bergakker three batters later to take a one run edge, and Abi Buchler (Fenwick Island, DE) drove in Lauren Seneca (Bethlehem, PA) who reached on a fielder’s choice to get on base, to go up 2-0.

William Paterson closed the gap, 2-1 after Nicole Jimmerson (North Bergen, NJ) doubled to left field to lead off, and later came home on an infield single from Heather Mendez (Basking Ridge, NJ). But Messiah did not stop adding three more runs in the top of the 3rd. Jaclyn Merkel (Linthicum, MD) led off the inning with a homerun over the left field wall, and Rebecca Stackhouse (Barrington, NJ) and Bergakker both crossed the plate, unearned runs, to take the 5-1 lead. The Falcons added a final run in the 5th inning to shut down WPU, 6-1.

Merkel went 3-4 with one run and one RBI while Bergakker posted three hits, all doubles, with three runs. Jimmerson scored the lone run for the Pioneers. Jessica Rhoads (Dillsburg, PA) pitched the complete three-hit game, striking out five and walking none. She let up the one run in the 2nd inning. Rhoads improves to 23-1 on the year while Kerrie Mascarelli (Montvlae, NJ) gets the loss in 2.0 innings. Mascarelli struck out two and walked two while letting up five hits and four runs.

In the opening game of the day, William Paterson defeated Rowan to advance to the championship game against Messiah. The Pioneers struck first in the top of the 1st inning when Meghan Reilly (Middlesex, NJ) led off with a single to center, Christina Zippler (Basking Ridge, NJ) reached on an error, and Lindsey Nadolny (Belford, NJ) laid down a bunt to load the bases with no outs. Jenna Vitale (Kenilworth, NJ) drove in two runs with a double to left-center to take a 2-0 edge after one half inning.

The Profs didn’t take long to respond as the first two batters, Nicki Veneziano (Bloomfield, NJ) and Jenna DiDonato (Hamilton, NJ) ripped back-to-back homeruns over the left field fence.

With the score knotted at two runs each, and William Paterson runners on first and second, Zippler cracked a three-run bomb to take a 5-2 advantage over the Profs in the top of the 2nd. The Pioneers added another run in the 3rd inning after Heather Mendez (Basking Ridge, NJ) doubled with two outs and moved to third on a wild pitch. She then came home on an infield error as Lacey Santone (South Plainfield, NJ) reached first base.

Veneziano led off the bottom of the inning with a double and later came home on a sac fly to left field from Ashley Minch (Pennsville, NJ) to close the gap, 6-3, but WPU would strike again in the 4th inning to go up 7-3 on the Profs and again in the 6th to earn the 8-3 victory, knocking out Rowan from the tournament.

Zippler led the Pioneers hitting 3-4 with three runs and three RBI while Veneziano led the Profs, hitting a perfect 4-4 with two runs and one RBI. Kerrie Mascarelli (Montvale, NJ) got the win pitching the final four innings, improving to 9-0 on the year. Amanda Singer (Monmouth Jct., NJ) recorded the loss in three innings pitched, striking out two and walking one. She wraps up the year at 14-7 overall.

All tournament team: