Moravian Softball Wins First NCAA Contest

MAHWAH, N.J. - Fourth seeded Moravian earned a 4-1 victory over fifth seed Eastern Connecticut State University in the opening round of the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament in the Mahwah Regional hosted by Ramapo College of New Jersey.

The Greyhounds, who are now 35-9 overall, advance to a winners bracket game versus top seed Messiah College on Friday, a 4-0 winner over eighth seed College of Staten Island in the opening game. Moravian and Messiah awill play at 3:00 p.m.

The Greyhounds took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman pitcher Jenna Carmon led off with a flare single to left field, and sophomore outfielder Amanda Paulus put down a sacrifice bunt to move Carmon to second base. Senior catcher Deanna Mangieri hit a ground out the pushed Carmon over to third baseman. Senior outfielder Erica Klepeisz followed with an RBI single to center field scoring Carmon. The hit was the 191st of Klepeisz's career, tying her for second in school history.

Moravian would extend its lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning. Senior designated player Maria DeBonis hit a solo home run down the left field line with one out, her third homer of the season.

Eastern Connecticut would cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth inning. Senior third baseman Courtney Caswell led off the inning with a single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt from senior second baseman Kelly Finlay, moved Caswell to seconds, freshman outfielder Priscilla Alicea hit a line drive single off of Moravian sophomore third baseman Maura Agnew’s glove pushing Caswell to third. Alicea would start to steal second base, and as the Greyhounds chased her back to first base, Caswell ran home and scored.

The Greyhounds scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend their lead to 4-1. Sophomore shortstop Stephanie Falzarano hit a one-out single and moved to second on a two-out walk by DeBonis. Senior first baseman Sheri Bieniek followed with a two-RBI double to right center field scoring Falzarano and DeBonis. The RBIs for Bieniek gave her 101 for her career, the fourth Moravian player to reach 100 career RBIs and now third in the all-time record book.

Each team had seven hits in the contest. DeBonis was two-for-two for the Greyhounds while senior first baseman Rachel Denny was two-for-three for the Warriors.

Carmon won her 12th straight decision to improve to 14-1 in the circle. She allowed a run on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Freshman Molly Rathbun started in the circle for Eastern Connecticut, giving up four runs on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout in five innings. Senior Katie Pensiero tossed the final inning for the Warriors, allowing a walk.

Story provided by Moravian Sports Information