Dior George hit a long single to centerfield with two down in the bottom of the ninth to score pinchrunner Jackie Marshall as 17^th-ranked Moravian College edged the University of Rochester, 3-2, in game three of the Rochester (NY) Regional in the NCAA Division III Softball Championships.
 
The victory puts Moravian in the driver's seat as the Greyhounds (36-5) try to advance to the Super-Regional Round. Moravian and Rochester (28-12) will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday. If Moravian wins, the Greyhounds move on. If Rochester wins, the same two teams play again at 1:30 p.m. to determine which team advances.
 
Each team left runners in scoring position over the later innings. Moravian left two aboard in the bottom of the seventh and the bottom of the eighth. Rochester had its leadoff hitter get on, advance to second on a sacrifice, and remain there in the seventh, eighth, and ninth.
 
Moravian's Josie Novak had a big hand in holding down Rochester. (The Yellowjackets hit as the visiting team as per NCAA dictum). She had four strikeouts in the last three innings, nine overall. She scattered seven hits and walked one. Rochester scored one earned run off her and one unearned run. She is 17-4.
 

Brittany Grage took the loss for the Yellowjackets. She relieved Eleni Wechsler with one on and none out in the eighth. Wechsler scattered six hits, walked three, and fanned three in seven innings. She allowed two runs, one of them earned. Gage pitched 1.2  innings, allowing three hits and one run. She fanned two. Grage is 13-5. It was the first run she has allowed in 30.1 innings.
 
George had a chance to win it for the Greyhounds in the seventh. With one out and Megan Taylor on first after a failed sacrifice, Wechsler intentionally walked Jenn Dalickas. Mary Schlosbon flied to right and George struck out swinging.
 
In the ninth, Dalickas hit a long double to center with one out. Grage fanned Schlosbon and that brought up George. She worked the count full, fouling a ball off her left ankle in the process.  On the 10^th pitch of the at-bat, she drove it to the warning track in left center, beyond a fielder's glove.
 
She relished the challenge. "There is definitely pressure being a senior captain," she said. "It's how you handle it. I was able to pull through the second time around. I had to get that run in. We didn't know how much Josie (Novak) had left."
 
"We couldn't get the fly ball (earlier in the game) that we needed," said Moravian coach John Byrne. "Dior's been around long enough. She battled with two strikes."
 
Rochester produced a run in the top of the first. With one out, Sarah Wayson doubled to right and Laurelle Byrne-Cody ran for her. Grage struck out, but Wechsler lined a single up the middle for the RBI. The Yellowjackets got only one runner over the next three innings – Rachel Roddenbery walked with two down in the second.
 
Meanwhile, Moravian scrambled for two runs in the fourth which ended on an unusual call. Julie Siragusa reached on an infield single. Lizzie Mack bunted and Wechsler's throw to first pulled Gabriela Alatorre off the bag. Victoria Conner's bunt was just out of reach of Grage and the infield single loaded the bases.
 
Janae Matos popped to short on the infield fly rule for the first out. Pinch-hitter Abby Jeffries reached on an infield single that scored Siragusa and advanced everyone a base. Lizzie Deutsch replaced Jeffries.  Pinch-hitter Madison Newhouser hit a soft liner to the right side that fell just off Byrne-Cody's glove. The runners hesitated briefly and Mack scored an unearned run with Conner moving to third. Deutsch held up. Byrne-Cody ran down the deflection and threw to Kibling at second for the force and the second out. Newhouser made a wide turn at first as the ball was returned to Wechsler in the circle. Newhouser moved back and forth repeatedly and was called out on a violation of the look-back rule. It says when the ball is returned to the circle, the runner must immediately either run ahead to the next base or retreat to the previous base.  The call ended the inning.
 
Rochester scored an unearned run of its own in the fifth to tie the score. Liberto singled to center and when the ball was over-run, she reached second. Pinch-hitter Ashley Amidon grounded out to short. Shelby Corning popped out, but Kibling singled through the left side to score the run – and she advanced when the ball was misplayed in left. Wayson bounced back to the mound ending the inning.
 
Blackshear singled leading off the Rochester seventh, but after a strikeout and a sacrifice moved her to second, she was stranded when Novak struck out pinch hitter Lauren Muni.
 
In the eighth, Kibling singled and Wayson bunted her over. Grage grounded to short and Wechsler to third. In the ninth, Alatorre singled to right and advanced on Blackshear's sacrifice. Novak reached back and threw strike three past Liberto and Roddenbery.
 
Moravian had a chance in the eighth. Siragusa reached when her flyball to left was dropped. That brought on Grage. She and Wechsler switched positions with Wechsler taking over at third. Mack singled putting runners on first and second and Conner bunted them over. Pinch-hitter Niki Maffettone grounded out to third with the runners holding and Wechsler speared Deutsch's line drive to end the inning.
 
Grage said the veterans spent very little time this week talking in team meetings. "Everyone understands what we went through last year and has been stepping up," she said. "We knew we would be facing better hitters coming in the tournament."