FLORENCE, SC – Senior second baseman
Maddy Golka connected on a two-run walk-off double to give second-seeded and eighth-ranked Francis Marion University a 6-5 win over third-seeded and 15th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne University, Saturday afternoon (May 16) in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Softball Tournament.
Francis Marion improves to 47-11 and advances to the Southeast Super Regional, where FMU will face top-seeded and third-ranked University of North Georgia, Thursday and Friday in Dahlonega, Ga. The Super Regional is a best two-out-of-three format with a single game on Thursday and one or two games on Friday.
This will be the second straight year for this match-up as UNG beat the Patriots in three games last year in Florence.
Saturday's victory was also the 700th career win for FMU head coach
Stacey Vallee. Vallee has guided the Patriots to a 700-390-1 mark in her 22 seasons.
Against Lenoir-Rhyne, graduate student first baseman
Jenna Walling and graduate student third baseman
Rylie Webster led FMU with two hits apiece, with Walling reaching base all four times she came to the plate. Webster also made a pair of 'web gems" at the hot corner, one in the first and one in the seventh, to take away hits.
Senior left-hander
Alyssa Poston (16-2) registered a gritty complete-game effort. She scattered nine hits and walked five, while throwing 119 pitches. For only the third time in 83 career starts as a Patriot, she did not record a strikeout, but she did just enough to allow the Patriots to complete the come-back win.
Lenior-Rhyne (41-15), which needed to beat the Patriots twice on Saturday to win the championship, struck first on a three-run homer to right by third baseman Madison Primm in the top of the third inning.
Francis Marion responded in the bottom of the frame as Walling and Webster both delivered run-scoring doubles to the left-center field gap.
FMU took its first lead at 4-3 in the fifth when Webster launched a two-run homer over the left field wall. However, the Bears answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to forge a 5-4 advantage.
Facing the possibilities of going to the "if necessary game," the Patriots rallied in the bottom of the seventh. Walling struck out to start the inning, but the ball was not handled cleanly by the catcher, and Walling beat the throw to first base. Junior designated hitter
McKenzie Jewell followed with a single to left field putting two on with no outs.
A fielder's choice grounder by Webster forced the lead runner at third base for the first out. Sophomore
Kelsey Day then pinch ran for Jewell at second base. Golka, who has driven in 13 runs in the past nine games, then lined a 2-1 pitch into the left-center field gap with both Day and Webster scoring to set off a wild celebration on the FMU Softball Stadium diamond.
LRU starter Madison Wilson (21-6) was tagged with the heart-breaking loss. She threw 146 pitches on Saturday, after having already won two games in the regional.
Walling extended her streak of safely reaching base to 14 contests, while Poston recorded her 72nd win as a Patriot – third most in program history.
