The Emory Softball team opens up first round play today at the NCAA Division III Softball Championship in Salem, Va. against the University of St. Thomas (Minn.). The Eagles are 44-5 on the season to the Tommies’ 43-6.
Emory clinched a spot in the tournament after defeating Benedictine University (Ill.) in a three-game series 2-1.
The first game of the series was close, but Emory managed to win 2-1. In the second game of the series the squad fell to Benedictine by a score of 1-0. The Emory Eagles then knocked off Benedictine 3-1 in the third game to send Emory to the Softball Championship as the Atlanta Super Regional Champions.
Only eight teams make the Championship, the teams will be split into two brackets and the winners of the bracket will play in the finals.
The team reached the Super Regionals the past two seasons, but failed to reach the World Series.
“This is my third time at Super Regionals, and we didn’t make it the past two times, and we decided that this is going to be the year that we break the barrier,” File said. “We had a lot of momentum going forward, and we played very well together as a team.”
The star of the first game was junior outfielder Taylor Forte; she provided the heroics on Friday afternoon, driving in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Eagles to a 2-1 victory.
The victory, the Emory Eagles’ 44th of the season, set a school record. They were then a sole win away from the program’s fourth trip to the College World Series.
Benedictine tied the series at 1-1 with a pitcher’s duel in game two, as junior pitcher Holly Haberkorn shutout Emory through seven innings, giving up just three hits and striking out two while allowing one walk.
File got the loss despite allowing just a single run on five hits while racking up 11 strikeouts while allowing no walks.
In the final game of the series, sophomore utility player Janelle Turnquest broke a scoreless tie with a leadoff home run to begin the second inning. The Eagles added an unearned run in the fourth inning, when sophomore pinch runner Raygan Greer scored on an errant throw to extend Emory’s lead to 2-0.
With her game on fire all afternoon, File needed little run support. She closed out the Super Regionals with seven strong innings in game three, finishing with a line of seven innings pitched, four hits, one run, two walks and one hit batter. She recorded four strikeouts in the contest, with two in the seventh inning, including the final out.
This marks the first time that Emory is heading to the NCAA Division III Softball Championships since 2007 and the fourth time in program history. File was awarded for her dominance as she was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher after going 2-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched. Turnquest was named the Most Outstanding Player in the series, collecting three hits, including a homerun.
File is confident about Emory’s chances of winning the Championship this year: “Whoever is going to win this year is going to be the team who wants it the most, and I believe that’s going to be us.”
