East Texas Baptist's offense entered the Gold Bracket championship game against Moravian averaging eight runs a game. The Greyhounds' Meagan Hennessy, however, came in and limited the Tigers to just one run as Moravian won the NFCA Division III Leadoff Classic with a 7-3 victory over ETBU.
East Texas Baptist took the 1-0 lead into the second, but Moravian behind the powerful stick of Jenn Hastings and Heather Bortz scored four of their own to take a lead they would never relinquish.
The Tigers added two more over the middle innings to cut the Greyhounds' lead to 5-3, but Moravian tacked on two more in the sixth on a double by Melissa Soroka and an RBI single from Hastings.
Hennessy was stellar in the circle, as the tournament MVP allowed the single run and four hits in the six-plus innings of work.
Defending national champion Central won the Silver Bracket with a 4-2 win over Pacific Lutheran. Central scored a run in the first, but the Lutes rallied back to take the lead with two in the fourth. The Dutch tied the game back up in the fifth before a two-run burst in the sixth capped the win. Corrie Schmidt went the distance and gave up just two runs on a hit en route to earning all-tournament team accolades.
Wheaton scored a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to take the Bronze Bracket with a 2-1 win over Plattsburgh State.
Brittany Ames was stellar for Wheaton, going seven complete and allowing just a single run on five hits. Courtney Prior drove home the opening run for the Lyons, while Brianna Shawah gave Wheaton the lead with her fifth-inning base hit.