THE FACTS
No. 16 Gettysburg (40-6) 9, MIT (29-11) 4
What: NCAA Div. III softball championship regional semifinal
When: Friday, May 16
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Trailing 3-1 after one inning, Gettysburg exploded to score eight runs over its final five at bats. That means for the first time in program history, the Bullets will enter an NCAA regional final as the 2-0 team. The Bullets will also do so as a 40-win team for the first time after defeating MIT 9-4 in the semifinal of the 2025 NCAA Div. III softball championship regional at Gettysburg.
THE LEADERS
•
Anika Pelekis (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) led the offense for the Bullets with three hits and three RBIs. She was one of three Gettysburg players with multiple hits.
FOR THE FOES
• Maggie Feng led the Engineers with a 2-for-3 day, adding an RBI.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Gettysburg jumped on the board in the top of the first inning.
Jamie Shaw (Mount Airy, Md./Glenelg) beat out a one-out infield single before
Elliana Hopple (Collegeville, Pa./The Episcopal Academy) poked a single through the left side. A two-out
Renee Laczkowski (Erie, Colo./Erie) single through the left side scored Shaw from second for a 1-0 lead.
• Layla Theissen opened the bottom of the inning with a single up the middle before Mikayla Cable beat out a bunt. Ava Ladd followed with a single back up the middle to tie the game before a one-out Arianna Kumar single scored both runners for a 3-1 advantage.
• In the top of the third, Hopple reached on a short single to start a two-out rally.
Morgan DeFreitas (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown West) added an infield single before Laczkowski walked to load the bases. A two-run
Anika Pelekis single to right tied the game at 3-all.
Lauren O'Leary (Manasquan, N.J./Jackson Memorial) and
Elie Lardiere (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) then each drew walks to force in the go-ahead run.
• In the fourth,
Audrey Bergan (Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School) led off the inning with an infield single before an error put two on. After a sacrifice, DeFreitas walked to load the bases. A Laczkowski RBI groundout made it 5-3 before Pelekis singled home Shaw for a 6-3 advantage.
• MIT got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Kennedy Adkison singled with one out before a two-out Maggie Feng single made it 6-4.
• A Pelekis walk and walks to O'Leary and Lardiere loaded the bases to start the seventh. After a pitching change, a groundout scored Pelekis to make it 7-4 before Bergan doubled home O'Leary and a Shaw squeeze bunt set the final margin.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Weather in the area forced suspension of play late in the afternoon on Saturday. The first elimination game between Ramapo and John Jay was halted in the middle of the sixth inning and will resume at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that game will face MIT 40 minutes following the conclusion of that contest in a second elimination game with the winner advancing to the regional final at approximately 3:30 p.m. with the need to win twice. Game Seven, if necessary, will be played on Sunday at 11 a.m.
•
Audrey Bergan and
Elliana Hopple had two hits each for the Bullets.
• Gettysburg is just the second team in Centennial Conference history to record 40 wins in a season.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg will await its opponent after the completion of Games 4 and 5 in the regional, needing just one more victory for its first regional title. Game time on Saturday for the Bullets will be approximately 3:30 p.m.
