SALEM, Va. — Rowan’s NCAA Division III Softball Championship run has come to a close. The Profs fell to the University of Belhaven Blazers, 4-2, on Saturday in at the Moyer Sports Complex.

Four runs in the top of the first inning proved to be all Belhaven needed to avoid elimination in the win or go home game.

Blazers first baseman Kaleigh Steverson opened the scoring with an RBI single and shortstop Melissa Lopera added insult to injury with a three run shot to left field. It was Lopera’s second home run in as many days.

The Blazers advance to face the defending national champions, the Trine Thunder, with a trip to the Softball Championship Series on the line. 

“I didn’t think four runs would hold because they’re [Rowan] such a good program,” said Belhaven Softball head coach Kevin Griffin. “So very proud of our team, and moving on is always good.”

The Profs threatened on multiple occasions, but couldn’t finish on the offense front. They left 10 runners on base in Saturday’s game, including the bases loaded in the sixth. 

“That’s a lot to score,” said Rowan Softball head coach Kim Wilson. “One score, you know, it could be a totally different game.”

Rowan’s two runs both came in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Pinch runner Gia Dimeglio secured the first run by stealing home plate. The freshman took off from third on a throw down to second  during freshman designated player Emma Dobkin’s at-bat — aimed at getting the runner Abigail Pawlowski. Just one batter later, Emma Dobkin plated Pawlowski with a single to right field. 

Rowan put both of its runs up against Blazers starter Karley Rouse. Following Dobkin’s RBI single, Griffin turned to Belhaven’s true ace, Macy Funderburk, to stop the Profs’ rally. Funderburk did just that, striking out the last two batters to ice Rowan’s offense. 

The Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) selected pitched the final four innings with no runs allowed, along with five strikeouts.

“We have a deep pitching staff,” Funderburk said. “We just really have to depend on each other. She [Karley Rouse] starts a game, I’m always there for her…we really are unstoppable.”

Despite initial struggles for Rowan’s Emily McCutcheon, the senior settled inside the circle and pitched a complete game. Following that four-run first inning, she didn’t allow a single run —  and struck out three batters. 

McCutcheon, an All-American, earned her first collegiate win against Belhaven in 2023. Three years later, her senior season comes to a close at the hands of the Blazers. 

“I don’t remember pitching them my freshman year,” McCutcheon said with a laugh. “After that first inning, I knew I had to change my mindset in some way and stay up in the dugout and show everyone that I’m still here and we’re going to fight in this game. And I think just doing that, we were able to fight.”

It wasn’t an easy road to Salem for the Profs. Their first test was against No. 6 nationally ranked East Texas Baptist University, a team they defeated twice home twice on its home field the NCAA Regional. Rowan then swept Colby College in the Glassboro Super Regional to advance to its historic fourth straight NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

The defining moment of the postseason, and perhaps one of the biggest wins in program history, came in Salem, where the Profs opened championship play with an upset of the previously undefeated Virginia Wesleyan Marlins.

It wasn’t an easy road to Salem for the Profs. Their first test came against No. 6-ranked East Texas Baptist University, a team they defeated twice on its home field in the NCAA Regional. Rowan then swept Colby College in the Super Regional in Glassboro to secure its historic fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

The defining moment of the postseason — and perhaps one of the biggest wins in program history — came in Salem, where the Profs opened championship play with a 3-2 upset of the previously undefeated Virginia Wesleyan Marlins.

The Profs 2026 campaign closes with a 43-11 record —  and includes their third straight New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) title.

A year removed from a stellar senior class, McCutcheon said the pressure to return to softball’s biggest stage, and doubt, was high. 

“We were honestly kind of worried that, man, we went here the past three years, and we’re like, man, we’re not even gonna make it to the conference tournament,” McCutcheon said. “We were just so hard on ourselves.”

But this year’s seniors took the incoming class of nine freshmen, the futures of the program, under their wing. McCutcheon says that bond carried them through. 

“Definitely the leadership from all the seniors, just leaving it all on the field, and that mentality that we taught all these rookies,” she said. “ Like all the past three years, like, yeah, we’ve been upset that the seniors are graduating this year. Everyone was upset, everyone was crying, no matter what year they were, because of, like, the impact that we had on everyone.”