CNU softball finishes second in nation
Published 9:27 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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Christopher Newport University fell to Oregon’s Linfield College during the NCAA Division III National Championship Tuesday. | PHOTO COURTESY OF CNUPHOTOS.COM
Oregon’s Linfield College made it back-to-back wins over Christopher Newport to win the NCAA Division III Softball National Championship on Tuesday in Salem.
CNU (38-12) entered the eight-team national finals in Salem as the only team not nationally ranked and upset its way to a 3-0 record and the national championship game.
No. 1 Linfield (51-3) had to beat CNU twice in the final. The Lady Wildcats won 6-0 Monday, for their third win of the day, and won 6-2 Tuesday for the title.
Christopher Newport scored a run in the fifth to tie the game, 2-2. Linfield scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good.
Junior first baseman Maggie Farris (King’s Fork) played in two games in Salem. She played in 30 games, starting 22, for the Lady Captains this season.
CNU went 7-0 in the postseason before facing Linfield twice.
“We played a lot of great teams and overcame a lot to get here. We knew we had to play a great game today and we just came up short. Linfield is a great program and they certainly deserve the championship,” said CNU head coach Keith Parr.
The 2011 Lady Captain softball team joins CNU’s 2003 baseball team as the only other CNU team to reach the national championship game in an NCAA tournament.
“There’s so many things that teams have to go through to get this far — a lot of things have to go your way to win a title,” Parr said. “We have great leaders on this team, and we’ve got a lot returning. I just couldn’t be more proud of them.”