The Lynchburg College softball team took an early lead and held on Sunday to defeat Virginia Wesleyan College 4-1 in the championship game of the 2008 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament.
It is the second-straight title for LC and the program's fifth overall, and gives the Hornets the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Brittany Allsop (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) led off the top of the first with a single, and advanced to third on a single from Elizabeth Perkins (Kents Store, VA/Fluvanna County). Tara Campbell (Leesburg, VA/Loudon County) and Dara Sandifer (Monroe, VA/Holy Cross) followed with RBI singles to give LC an early 2-0 edge.
The Hornets pushed across a single run in the third, with Audra Della Rosa (Rumford, RI/St. Mary Academy Bay View) scoring on a fielder's choice. Virginia Wesleyan got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, when Ally Eates drove home the Marlins first run with a double to the gap.
LC answered back with an insurance run in the top of the seventh, when Della Rosa drove home Lauren Duguay (Williamsburg, VA/Jamestown, VA) with a two-out hit.
Junior Barbie Miles (Kinsale, VA/Washington & Lee) got the start on the hill and worked four scoreless frames, twice escaping from bases-loaded jams for the win. Katie Bruce (Lanexa, VA/Lafayette, VA) picked up the save, going three innings out of the pen. Sandifer and Perkins each had two hits for Lynchburg, and Campbell finished with two RBI. Betty Stewart was 2-2 for Virginia Wesleyan.
Sandifer was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player, and Kirstin Swank (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy), Campbell, Duguay and Della Rosa were all named to the all-tournament team.
In other sports-related news…
Lynchburg College junior lacrosse player Tyler Tolson was featured in an article in The New York Times written by Adam Himmelsbach. Please follow this link for the complete story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/sports/othersports/26lacrosse.html?_r=1&oref=slogin