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 SALISBURY, MD- The 13th inning proved to be a good one for the Captains of Christopher Newport on Friday the 13th. CNU, playing in the NCAA softball tournament, defeated the top-seeded Eagles of Emory University, 7-3, on a walk-off grand slam home run from junior Jen Falin (Williamssburg, Va.).

The victory propels the Captains in the winner's bracket to play either the host school, Salisbury, or USA South rival Shenandoah Saturday at 2 p.m. Salisbury was leading Shenandoah after four innings Friday, 4-0, when the game was suspended due to darkness. The game will resume at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Christopher Newport, now 33-10, got an amazing pitching performance from sophomore Krista Townsend (Midlothian, Va.), who pitched all 13 innings. Townsend had just one bad inning, allowing all three Emory runs in the fourth. Townsend then threw nine straight shutout innings to pick up the victory.

CNU scored first when senior Ashley Mani (Chesapeake, Va.) singled home freshman Kelley Foate (Richmond, Va.) in the bottom of the third. After Emory took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth, the Captains answered with a Foate sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Jordan Beadles (Richmond, Va.) in the bottom of the fourth.

The Captains still trailed by a run heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, but scratched across a run on a Falin sacrifice fly scoring Foate to tie the game and force extra innings.

Christopher Newport threatened with base runners in the 10th and 11th only to be turned away. Emory also mounted rallies in extra innings, only to be held off by Townsend's masterful pitching.

In the bottom of the 13th, Foate led off with a single and was followed by freshman Kristina McLaughlin (Virginia Beach, Va.) who also singled. After a fielder's choice, senior Jessie Atkinson (Mechanicsville, Va.) was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Falin, who had tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, ended it with one swing of the bat for the walk-off 7-3 victory. Falin ended up with five RBI.

Atkinson and Foate both had three hits for the Captains, and Foate scored three times.

Emory, ranked #2 in the nation, now will play Saturday morning at 10 am vs. Rowan in an elimination game. The Eagles are now 41-3-1 this season.

The pitching performance by Townsend was the longest in CNU softball history, breaking the mark of 11 innings set by Kathy Meeks in 1987. Townsend scattered 13 hits over 13 innings and struck out seven while walking three. She improves to 8-2 on the year.

The Captains finished with 15 hits in the victory. It was just the second time in NCAA play that CNU has gone to extra innings. Ironically, the first time was in 2008 also vs. Emory, a game the Captains lost, 4-3.