Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405220093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bridgewater State. To everyone except Bridgewater State, that is.
Granted, the Bears came into the tournament as the sixth seed in the six-team field and promptly plummeted to the losers' bracket with an 8-7 loss to Trenton State in their opener Thursday.
The Bridgewater State administration had even booked a return flight to Massachusetts for the team at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
But the Bears weren't ready for that in-flight meal quite yet.
They came back and knocked off top-seeded Buena Vista 7-5 on Friday and pounded second-seeded Rowan 10-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears then clawed their way into today's championship final by edging 1993 champion Central (Iowa) 1-0 in the nightcap Saturday.
A crowd of 524 at the Moyer Complex watched Judy Gallagher (25-3) pitch seven innings of four-hit ball. She struck out four and walked three.
"The girls haven't been mentioned since we got here," said Dee Dee Entebenter, Bridgewater's coach. "But we wanted to let our play do the talking."
Overlooking the Bears was easy to do. After all, they had been to the regionals nine of the past 11 years and never advanced to the championship round until this year.
No team in any of Bridgewater's 20 varsity sports had ever advanced to national tournament play.
But there's no doubt the Bears earned their spot in this championship. In their regional, they beat Ithaca (N.Y.) twice and knocked off Eastern Connecticut State, a school that had been to the final round 11 of the past 12 years, earning four NCAA championships.
Bridgewater has set 10 school records this season and won its seventh consecutive title in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference.
The Bears (39-7) will play Trenton State (47-4) in the championship final at 1 p.m. today. If Bridgewater wins, the teams will play again at 3 p.m.
Trenton advanced by edging Central 3-2 in Saturday's opening game, a rematch of last year's NCAA final, which Central won.
"I always say payback is sweet," said JoAnn Heckethorn, a first-team All-American who had one hit and two sacrifices for Trenton.
With the score tied at 1 in the top of the fifth, Heckethorn scored from second on a bunt single by Gretchen Heurdek. Heckethorn, a senior right fielder, never even looked up as she rounded third and slid into home plate.
"I thought it was an opportunity run that we needed," Heckethorn said. "It was a perfectly placed bunt, and I thought if I could get a good slide, I could make it easily. No hesitation."
The Lions scored again in the top of the seventh, then held on in the bottom half of the inning.
Erine Grove (23-1) pitched seven innings and gave up three hits while striking out four.
Missey Allen (17-6) took the loss for Central. She struck out eight in seven innings while giving up six hits and three runs, two earned.
Allen kept the Lions guessing all afternoon, except for Trenton third baseman Michelle Carlson, who was walked intentionally three times.
Carlson entered the tournament batting .560 and hit her 20th home run of the season on Friday against Rowan. The 20 homers is a Division III record, surpassing the mark of 14 set by Julie Curtis of Whittier (Calif.) in 1986.
"It's not just me. The whole team has been hitting the ball well all year and people keep forgetting about that," said Carlson, who sat at home with a knee injury last season while Trenton made its bid for a fifth national title.
Carlson, a first-team All-American and a candidate for player of the year, also leads Trenton with a fielding percentage of .950. She had four putouts and six assists Saturday.
"[They] can take the bat out of my hands, but they can't take my glove," Carlson said. " . . . Defense - that's what's going to win the championship."
Trenton State and Bridgewater State will find out if that's true today.
by CNB