Friday, May 11, 2007

DeLand, Fla. - No. 2 seed Gardner-Webb advanced to the championship round of the 2007 Atlantic Sun Softball Championship presented by Coca-Cola unblemished beating the No. 1 seed Stetson Hatters by a score of 3-2 in eleven innings.

Gardner-Webb scored in the eleventh inning on a throwing error by Heather Colding. The Bulldogs' Joanna Ward beat the ensuing throw home to score the eventual game-winning run.

GWU's Haley Scism hit her first home run of the season to give the Bulldogs a third inning 1-0 lead. The Hatters countered in the bottom of the fourth when Lindsay Wightman drove in Nicole Forbes to tie the game. Erica Demers pitched the first 3.1 innings for Stetson allowing one run, before giving way to Heather Colding who went the final 7.2 innings in the losing effort. Taryn Beck pitched eight innings for GWU, allowing two runs and striking out eight. The Hatters and Bulldogs traded runs in the eighth inning, with both teams scoring on sacrifice flies. Alison Coffey relieved Beck in the ninth inning and finished out the game for the win.

Gardner-Webb will play the winner of Stetson and ETSU/Campbell at noon on Saturday for the A-Sun championship. Gardner-Webb will have to lose twice to it's opponent since the Bulldogs are headed into the championship round undefeated. Stetson will play the winner of No. 3 ETSU and No. 5 Campbell at 6:00 p.m. today for the right to play Gardner-Webb in the championship.