The road to the College Softball World Series runs through Glassboro once more.
The Rowan Profs defeated the No. 6 East Texas Baptist University (ETBU) Tigers twice on Saturday in the Regional Final, 2-1 in Game 1, and 2-0 in Game 2, in Marshall, Texas, to advance to the Super Regionals.
The road to the Super Regional round was anything but easy. The Profs, after losing, 7-0, to ETBU on Friday, had to win three elimination games in 24 hours to stay alive. Now, Rowan will play host to the Super Regional against Colby College.
“It’s gutsy, they’re gritty,” Rowan head coach Kim Wilson said. “They leave it all on the field. I’m super proud of every single one of them.”
Emily McCutcheon once again showed her class, tossing all 14 innings in both wins Saturday after pitching in a win against Saint Thomas-Houston on Friday. McCutcheon had to pitch 21 innings in just 36 hours which amounted to a total of 282 pitches.
The southpaw did all this while allowing just one earned run on Saturday and three walks in the process.
“We counted on Emily to do what she needed to do and keep it a low-scoring game,” Wilson said. “We knew our defense was going to take care of the ground balls she was going to give up.”
For McCutcheon, it took more than just her practice and strength to get through both games.
“I just had so much adrenaline and wanted to keep going,” McCutcheon said. “It felt like we didn’t even take a break in between.”
Game 1was a nailbiter, like most Rowan softball games this season. Tough defense and timely runs lifted the Profs to victory.
In the second inning, Maggie Funston grounded out to bring home Abigail Pawlowski for the opening run, before Mikayla Dansky reached on an error that allowed Carly Polsky to score.
The Tigers scored one in the third but McCutcheon shut the ETBU offense down for the next four innings and struck out three to boot.
Game 2 was almost a carbon copy of the first. Only this time, ETBU couldn’t even manage a run.
McCutcheon only needed 71 pitches to complete all seven innings, an incredibly efficient outing.
“I didn’t have any strikeouts and we still got out of that with six hits,” McCutcheon said. “With them behind me, there would have been so much more.”
The defensive effort stood out throughout the regional final. Zoey Rogers said the team rallied around its exhausted pitcher and veteran leaders.
“When you know your pitcher’s throwing 14 straight innings, you want to have her back,” Rogers said. “We played for somebody bigger than ourselves.”
The offense from the Profs was just two runs but they were all Rowan needed to win. After an RBI single in the second inning plated Polsky for the game’s first run, Dansky crushed a solo home run in the fifth to extend Rowan’s lead to, 2-0.
The Profs, now a battle-tested unit, got crushed by ETBU in the second game of the regional, 7-0, sending the Profs on a journey to win three straight elimination games to win the title.
“I think our regional that we had was super hard,” McCutcheon said. “I think that really prepared us for everything going forward.”
Wilson believes the group is still improving despite already advancing to the final 16.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the tip of where we can be,” Wilson said. “I think we’re still getting better, and that’s exciting as a coach.”
