Four days after winning a second consecutive NJAC Championship, No. 4 Rowan Softball did not skip a beat on Thursday, May 15, as they started their NCAA Regionals campaign with a 8-0 win over the SUNY-Cortland Red Dragons.

“I think we came out ready to play,” Emily McCutcheon said. “We played our game and didn’t stoop [down] to anyone else’s level.”

McCutcheon went six scoreless innings and allowing just one hit while tallying four strikeouts on the day. Her performance against the Red Dragons helped drop her ERA to a career-best mark of 0.85. It was a different story for opposing Red Dragons starter Gianna Endieveri, who allowed three runs in the bottom of the first inning.

The Profs were off and flying when Abigail Pawlowski singled into left field to score both Liz McCaffery and Payton MacNair. On the same play, Pawlowski was caught in a run down between first and second base, but was able to dodge the glove of Cortland’s Shannon Scotto to complete a successful steal. Moments later, Pawlowski would come home after Aly Reim knocked a base hit into shallow right field to make it a 3-0 ball game. The junior left fielder went 3-4 with two RBIs.

“To go up 3-0 in that first inning was really important,” Pawlowski said. “That made us all get comfortable immediately and took the pressure off because once we got ahead, we knew we were going to sail easily throughout the rest of the game.”

Early run support proved the key difference between a thriving Profs offense and a struggling Red Dragons defense, heightening McCutcheon’s comfortability for the entire game.

“Scoring those runs early in the game rather than later is definitely a huge help,” McCutcheon said. “It helps us get settled as a team.”

While Riley Firenze produced three shutout innings for Cortland after replacing Endieveri on the bump, Rowan had prepared for a closing of the door in the sixth inning.

With back-to-back Cortland errors setting up runners on the corners, Head Coach Kim Wilson orchestrating a double steal that saw McKenzie Melvin take second and McCaffery scored her team high third run by stealing home to make it 5-0. 

The damage did not stop there, as MacNair completed a hat trick of singles to score Melvin, followed up by an RBI double by Breanna Bryant. Now a 7-0 Rowan lead, it was Kate Evick who reeled Bryant across home plate to activate the eight-run mercy rule to secure a Profs win.

“[I told them to] just relax,” Wilson said. “If we get good pitching, good defense, and hit the ball, we’re going to be fine.”

Pawlowski brings emphasis to Rowan’s mindset going forward in the regional tournament.

“We just have to stay confident and stay calm,” said Pawlowski. “I think we handle pressure very well as a team, and we don’t put too much of it on ourselves.” 

Rowan will now take on the Tufts Jumbos in the second game of the tournament on May 16. The Profs only need two more wins to capture a regional crown, and Wilson says the team is confident they can complete the task that’s ahead of them.

“They know that they can go out and beat anybody,” Wilson said.

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