Softball Drops Third Game in Championship Series to Le Moyne; Bulldogs Headed to Fifth Straight NCAA Tournament

SOFTBALL FALLS TO LE MOYNE IN NORTHEAST-10 FINAL
Bulldogs Qualify for NCAA Tournament

May 4, 2008      Game 1 Box       Game 2 Box     Game 3 Box

Syracuse, NY-  The Bulldogs quest for a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Championship came to a close after the Le Moyne Dolphins emerged with a 7-3 win in the third game of the afternoon after the Bulldogs pulled out a 11-10 victory over the #1 Le Moyne Dolphins in the second game. 

Even before playing the final game, Bryant learned that it had qualified for the NCAA tournament which will start this week. The Bulldogs earned the No. 6 seed of the tournament and will travel to Long Island to face third-seed Adelphi.  CW Post, the top team in the region, will host the regional.  Le Moyne is the No. 2 seed.  Others include Caldwell (4), Georgian Court (5), NYIT (7) and New Haven (8). The trip to the NCAAs is the fifth consecutive for Lisa-Ann Wallace's Bulldogs. 

The Dolphins managed to scrape together seven unearned runs off freshman Samantha Houseal (Mount Joy, PA) who pitched her second fine game of the day and too her second tough luck loss. All of Le Moyne's runs came in the third and fourth innings and were fueled by five Bulldog errors. 

Jessica Valentini (Cliffside Park, NJ) enjoyed a career day, launching four home runs and knocking in ten runs on the afternoon. 

In Game 2, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-5 lead before a Le Moyne rally brought in three runs in a hectic sixth inning. Pitcher Janine Enos (Wareham, Mass.) went the distance for the win, coming through in the clutch as she retired the final six batters for the win.

In the opener, number one-seeded Le Moyne jumped out two an early two-run lead in game one and withstood two home runs from junior Kate Thomas (Bedford, NH), to escape with a 3-2 victory in the first game of the NE-10 Championship series.

Houseal turned in a fantastic performance in the circle, rebounding after a two-run first inning by the heavy-hitting Dolphins in game one. 

After the first inning, Thomas snatched back the momentum with a long home run in the top of the second inning. Houseal shut out the Dolphins for the next four innings, and Thomas tied the game with another home run to left in the top of the fifth.

However, the Dolphins took back the lead for good when NE-10 Player of the Year Sarah Reed took Houseal out for a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. Relief pitcher Jennifer Farrelly shut down the Bulldogs in the seventh, and took the win after coming in for Reed in the sixth inning.