NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP
GELEIN FIELD, EAU CLARE, WISCONSIN

Wheaton took advantage of Roanoke miscues and some timely hittng and defeated the Maroons, 4-1. The loss eliminates Roanoke from the tournament while Wheaton goes on to play tonight at 6:30 CDT against the winner of the St. Mary's/North Central game. Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Marin Schrader reached base on an error, stole second, was sacrificed to third by Jill D'Arcy and scored on a wild pitch. The Lyons manufactured two more runs in the fourth. Rachael Powers led off with a walk and advanced to second on Brianna Shawah's single. Powers and Shawah advanced on a double steal and Powers scored when the catcher's throw sailed into left field. With two outs, Amanda Dow-Allen doubled to score Shawah from second. Roanoke rallied with a run in the sixth on Rachel Capozzi's RBI single but Wheaton got the run back in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrirfice fly by Dow-Allen. Wheaton freshman pitcher Jackie Demling recorded eight strikeouts, five called,and allowed five hits and one walk before being relieved by fellow freshman Chirstie Hineline to start the seventh inning. Hineline retired Roanoke in order in the seventh on three groundouts.

WHEATON PITCHER JACKIE DEMLING on her team's performance in winning its last two games after losing in the opening round: "Yesterday, we showed a lot of heart (in coming from behind to beat William Paterson) and now I think we've got it together physically."

WHEATON COACH GINA LOUDENBURG on her plans for her team's next game, tonight at 6:30 CDT against the winner of this afternoon's St. Mary's/North Central game: "Right now, I just have to worry about getting them (the team) lunch. After that, we'll worry about the next game."

St. Mary's jumped to a 4-0 first-inning lead and never looked back in a 10-6 win over North Central that eliminated North Central from the tournament. Jill Hocking's two-run double and a two-run home run by Jackie Huegel boosted the Cardinals to an early 4-0 lead and while North Central came back to score six runs, it wasn't enough to beat the defending national champions.

ST. MARY'S COACH NIKKI FENNERN: on her team's 10-run, 15-hit effort after being shut out on 10 hits by Muskingum last night: "We discussed stringing our hits together a little better and most of our players (actually, every Saint Mary's starter had at least one) had hits today.:

FENNERN on winning pitcher Jill Hocking, who didn't pitch in either of St. Mary's first two games due to a 24-hour virus she suffered two days ago: "Jill did fine today. She had one inning there where she hung a couple but North Central is a good hitting team so they deserve some credit, too. She's over the flu. We haven't decided yet whether we'll come back with Jill or go with Jen (Gonerka) tonight (against Wheaton in St. Mary's second elimination game of the day)"

ST. MARY'S JACKIE HUEGEL, who was 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and three RBI: "Yesterday, we hit the ball well (against Muskingum) but nothing happened, and that's very unusual for this team. We have a good lineup and when everyone is hitting we can score a lot of runs."

HUEGEL on her team's chances of winning a second consecutive national championship by coming through the loser's bracket: "We know we can still pull through. We might have to play a few more games, but we're prepared for that."

Chantelle Andrews' two-out, two-run third-inning double drove in both Muskingum runs and clinced a spot in the championship game for the Muskies. With one out in the third inning, Muskingum's Jennifer Shay reached base on an infield hit and advanced to second on an infield out. Central coach Goerge Wares then elected to intentionally walk Muskingum's Carla Kampschmidt and pitch to Andrews. Andrews foiled the strategy with a booming double to center that scored Shay and Kampschmidt. Muskingum pitcher Dani Keiffer handed Central its first shutout of the postseason, limiting the Dutch to four hits, three of which were by Molly Parrott (two singles and a triple). Muskingum has now clinched a spot in the championship game and will play Central, St. Mary's or Wheaton in the first championship game tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. CDT. Central drops into the loser's bracket and will play the winner of tonight's St. Mary's/Wheaton elimination game tomorrow at noon CDT.

MUSKINGUM COACH DONNA NEWBERRY on how she and her team have coped with the yesterday's death of pitching coach John Wells: "Yesterday, it was a test of controlling emotions for us. Today it was a test of will power and tomorrow it'll be a test of determination. it's just a matter for all of us to stay focused on what we're here to do. There's a time to celebrate and a time to mourn. If we're going to win this tournament, now is not the time to mourn."

MUSKINGUM PITCHER DANI KEIFFER on her mindset today: "I was thinking earlier, there's a difference between power and strength and I had strength today. I tried to figure out what he (Wells) would be telling meduring the game and I had people in the dugout telling me the things they thought he'd be saying."

MUSKINGUM'S CHANTELLE ANDREWS on what she was thinking when Central walked Carla Kampswchmidt to pitch to her in the third inning: "I was more ready to hit then, because they wanted me to hit. I was just up there to hit, I didn't care what she (Central pitcher Libby Hysell) threw."

CENTRAL COACH GEORGE WARES on the intentional walk to Kampschmidt: "We pitched around a kid, then got behind in the count (to Andrews) and they took advantage. We'd probably do it again. We put the hitter on quite a bit in that kind of situation. It gives us a force at third and gives us a better chance to get out of the inning. Unless there's a huge disparity in talent between the two kids, we'll do that all the time."

CENTRAL'S LIBBY HYSELL: "I didn't really have my best stuff today, but now I have to get ready and be tough in whichever game I pitch tomorrow."

HYSELL on Central's having to play two games tomorrow to stay in contention for the championship: "We play doubleheaders in our conference all the time and we play in a tough conference. We'll be ready."

Wheaton took advantage of a bunt single and two St. Mary's errors in the seventh inning to defeat the Cardinals, 3-2, and knock the defending national champions out of the tournament. Wheaton took a quick 2-0 first-inning lead on an RBI single by Lucy Campbell and an RBI doubles by Rachael Powers. St. Mary's came back with single runs in the second (RBI double by Niki Lynch) and third (RBI double by Jackie Huegel) but Wheaton enjoyed the last word in the last of the seventh. Wheaton now plays Central tomorrow at noon CDT. The winner of that game takes on unbeaten Muskingum tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. CDT. If Muskingum wins that game, they take home the 2001 championship trophy. If Muskingum loses that game, there'll be another championship game on Monday at 11 a.m. CDT.