THE FACTS
No. 5 Virginia Wesleyan (46-3-1) 10, No. 16 Gettysburg (41-8) 1 (5 inn.)
What: NCAA Div. III softball championship super regional
When: Friday, May 23
Where: Virginia Beach, Va.
THE SKINNY STORY
Virginia Wesleyan, ranked fifth in the latest NFCA Div. III coaches' poll, jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning before ultimately ending the season of No. 16 Gettysburg 10-1 in five innings in the second game of the 2025 NCAA Div. III softball championship superregionals.
THE LEADERS
•
Anika Pelekis (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) led the Bullets with a 1-for-2 and drove in the lone run of the game.
FOR THE FOES
• Morgan Tucker led the Marlins with two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• With one out in the top of the first inning, Julia Piotrowski tripled to the gap before scoring on a Laci Campbell single for a 1-0 lead. Virginia Wesleyan added two more singles in a row to make it 3-0 before a two-out Olivia Knight double capped a four-run first inning.
• With two outs in the bottom of the inning,
Elliana Hopple (Collegeville, Pa./The Episcopal Academy) was hit by a pitch and
Morgan DeFreitas (Coatesville, Pa./Downingtown West) walked before
Anika Pelekis singled back up the middle to make it 4-1.
• A Samantha Deitsch walk led off the top of the fourth before Knight doubled her home. Two more singles loaded the bases with one out before a Piotrowski sacrifice fly and another walk reloaded the bases at 6-1. An infield single and bases-loaded walk pushed the lead to 8-1 before Deitsch came up again in the frame and doubled for two more runs and the final margin.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg finished the season with a program-record 41 wins and advanced to a superregional for the first time in program history.
