Higher seeds prevail on first day at 2021 NCAA DIII finals

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SALEM, Va. — Leah Wood hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, giving third-seeded Birmingham-Southern a 3-2 victory over No. 6 seed Rochester to close the first day of the NCAA Division III championship finals on Thursday at the Moyer Sports Complex.

NCAA.com Day 1 video recap | Interactive Bracket

NFCA All-American Annie Clayton had three hits, Morgan McGuire singled twice and Hailee Bryan allowed one hit over 6.2 innings of scoreless relief for the (32-6) Panthers, who will face second seed Virginia Wesleyan (42-5-1) in Friday’s 5 p.m. ET winner’s bracket game.

Hunter Gilbreath had two hits in the loss for Rochester (35-9), which plays a noon game against seventh-seeded St. Thomas (32-9), with the losing team ousted from the double-elimination event.

Texas Lutheran 4, Tufts 3

Rebecca Snow singled home fellow All-American Kelly Jurden with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, and the defending national champion and fourth-seeded (33-4) Bulldogs scored three of their four runs in their final turn at-bat in a come-from-behind victory over No. 5 seed Tufts (21-6). Texas Lutheran plays No. 1 seed DePauw (39-3) in a 3 p.m. Friday winner’s bracket contest.

Michelle Adelman hit a two-run homer in the third inning for the Jumbos, who open Friday’s play with a 10 a.m. elimination game against No. 8 seed Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Virginia Wesleyan 3, St. Thomas 0

Womack had a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth and later scored on a throwing error, as the Marlins broke a scoreless tie in a matchup of former back-to-back national champions. NCAA Division III all-time wins leader and four-time All-American Hanna Hull allowed two hits and fanned six in a complete-game effort, despite taking a line drive off her throwing hand early in the contest.

Kierstin Anderson-Glass scattered nine hits and struck out five in the loss for the Tommies.

DePauw 2, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 1

Jade Meija Wick doubled in the go-ahead run in a two-run fifth, and the Tigers erased an early 1-0 deficit in the opening game of the eight-team finals. All-American Cami Henry allowed just three hits and improved to 23-0 for the season.

Gabby Buikema had an RBI single in the top of the first and Maddie Fink limited DePauw to four hits over six innings for the (28-12) Titans.

Friday's game times were moved up an hour due to rain in the forecast.