Box Score Box Score in HTML Format  |  Box Score in PDF Format  |  Photo Gallery

SALEM, VA - It all comes down to one game for the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

Tuesday morning at the Moyer Sports Complex, the Captains of Christopher Newport will take on the Wildcats of Linfield (OR) in the title game. The game has been moved up to a 10 a.m. first pitch due to the threat of thunderstorms in the Salem area.

Linfield, the top-ranked team in the country, had to win three games Monday to advance. First the Wildcats knocked out SUNY Cortland in a game that was postponed by heavy rain on Sunday night. Then, Linfield defeated Texas-Tyler to eliminate the Patriots. And finally, the Wildcats handed the Captains their first loss of the NCAA Tournament after seven straight wins. Now, with both teams suffering one loss, the double-elimination championship heads to a decisive game Tuesday.

The Captains Monday were shutout by the Wildcats, 6-0, on a hot, muggy day. It was only the fourth time this season CNU has failed to score a run. Linfield pitching allowed only one runner to reach third base in the game, and that came in the seventh inning.

"We knew we were playing a great team and made too many mistakes," Head Coach Keith Parr said after the loss. "I think we were over-anxious at the plate and had too many lapses in the field."

CNU committed two errors and the Captains were held to four hits for the day. The Wildcats plated a run in the third inning, two in the fifth, and then scored a single run in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

"Their pitchers kept us off-balance," senior All-American Jessie Atkinson (Mechanicsville, Va.) said. "We didn't make the adjustments we needed to make."

Sophomore starter Whitney Haller (Chesterfield, Va.) went the distance and took the loss to fall to 20-5 on the season.

"We knew they were going to put the ball in play," Haller said. "I've got great confidence in our defense...we just didn't do enough today."

Linfield finished with 12 hits, and Haller was able to strand 11 Wildcats on base.

Wildcat reliever Lauren Harvey pitched the final five innings to get the win and improve to 15-0. The win for Linfield was its 50th of the season, as the Wildcats improved to 50-3.

The Captains fall to 38-11 with the loss, and now will try to bounce back on Tuesday.

"We've got to turn the page," Parr continued. "What we did today and what we've done to this point is now irrelevant. We need to be better than them in one game. It's that simple."

"I know we've got one more great game in us."

Photos from today's game go to:

http://www.cnuphotos.com/Sports/Softball/2011softballnat