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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FIVE-RUN FIFTH IS TOO MUCH AS CHAPMAN IS ELIMINATED TYLER, Texas – The loser’s bracket is never a choice scenario. But the Chapman University softball team faced an even more challenging task, having to face the defending national champions on Friday afternoon in a win-or-go-home game. Linfield College (Ore.) defeated Chapman 5-3 to eliminate them from the NCAA Division III West Region playoffs at UT-Tyler Ballpark. The Wildcats, seeded No. 4 in the tournament, broke open a scoreless tie with five runs in the fifth inning, and then withstood a three-run rally from Chapman in the bottom of the inning to hang on. That was all the scoring in the game. It was the second meeting of the year between the two West Region rivals with Linfield defeating Chapman 4-0 in March at Hart Park. Linfield (38-5) sent 11 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored five runs on four hits off Panthers’ starter Katie Finley. The key blow in the inning came from Wildcats’ DH Alex Hartman who doubled in a pair of runs with a drive just inside the third base bag. Senior OF Stephanie Rice also had two of her three hits in the inning. Chapman (27-11) didn’t even get its first hit of the game until the bottom of the fifth when sophomore IF SheaLynn Slover singled after a leadoff walk by sophomore IF Dani Brown to jumpstart the offense. Two batters later, sophomore OF Vanessa Goncalves plated Brown with a sacrifice fly. Finley and junior OF Erin Dudzinski then followed with RBI singles to cut the Linfield lead to 5-3, but that was all the Panthers would get. The No. 6-seeded Panthers, who made their sixth consecutive NCAA postseason appearance this year, finished the season on a three-game losing streak and are now 2-6 in their last eight playoff games.
Linfield advanced in the loser’s bracket to face host and No.2-seeded Texas-Tyler in later on Friday. The Wildcats were eliminated in that game with a 6-4 loss to the Patriots. ### Game stats available online: |
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