Elon Softball Punches Ticket to First-Ever CAA Title Game

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Elon University softball team advanced to its first-ever Colonial Athletic Association title game with a 7-3 victory over Drexel in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament on Thursday evening, May 9, at Veterans Memorial Park.

BOX SCORE

The Phoenix improved to 33-19-1 overall on the season and moves a step closer in attempting to reach its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2010. The Dragons close out their season at 32-26-1 on the year.

At the Plate: Elon’s offense accounted for seven hits in the game…Callie Horn led Elon with a 2-of-4 performance with two RBI…Freshmen Megan White and Rebecca Murray each had two-run home runs for the maroon and gold…Ally Repko and Lauryn Clarke added doubles to their stat lines.

In the Circle: The Phoenix rode the arm of Abby Barker, as the Granville, Ohio, native improved to 19-6 overall on the season…Barker pitched 6.1 innings and gave up six hits and three runs with four strikeouts…Hailey Jomp tossed the remaining two-thirds of an inning in relief…Barker’s win gave her the program’s single-season record for wins at the Division I level and tied the for second-most overall in school history.

The Rundown
The Phoenix jumped on the Dragons early in the bottom of the first. Repko reached on a two-out walk before White hit a two-run blast to left field to put Elon ahead 2-0.

Elon kept applying the pressure with a five-run bottom of the second. Clarke opened the frame with a double to left center before Murray provided the second two-run homer of the game to double the Phoenix’s lead to 4-0. The big inning continued for Elon as the Phoenix loaded the bases with one out and drove in two more runs on Horn’s two-RBI single to right. With runners at the corners, the Phoenix executed a double steal with Repko swiping home to give Elon the 7-0 advantage.

From there, Barker and the Phoenix defense held the dangerous Drexel offense from doing much damage. The Dragons were held to only one hit between the third and the sixth inning as Barker kept Drexel at bay until the seventh.

Drexel however came back with a rally in the top of the seventh. The Dragons opened the frame with back-to-back singles before a fly out advanced a runner to third. Two consecutive doubles drove in three runs for Drexel, trimming Elon’s lead to four, 7-3, with the heart of its lineup coming to the plate. Elon made a change in the circle as Jomp was able to induce the next two outs to secure the semifinal victory for the Phoenix.

On Deck
Elon faces No. 1 seed James Madison in the championship round on Friday, May 10, at 11 a.m. The Phoenix will need to defeat the Dukes twice in order to secure the CAA Championship and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.