SALEM, Va. --- Virginia Wesleyan University closed its historic season with a 3-2 loss to Linfield University in an elimination game on day two of action in the Division III Softball Championship final round at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem on Friday.
The Marlins (50-2) finished the year as just the third team in ODAC history to reach 50 wins, all of which have been achieved by VWU in 2017, 2018, and now 2026. The Wildcats (43-7) move on to play in one of two games on Saturday against an opponent still to-be-determined in double-elimination bracket play.
Virginia Wesleyan had plenty of opportunity in Friday's clash of perennial Division III softball powers. Linfield pitcher Tyler McNeley went the distance, tossing 138 pitches in her seven frames. Most of those 138 pitches were on the wrong side of the ball-strike calls by the home plate umpire as McNeley issued nine walks to Marlins' batters in addition to plunking one and scattering five hits.
The Marlins only pushed across two of those 15 baserunners despite having a runner reach at least second base in all but the fifth inning. Nine of the 13 runners stranded by VWU were left in scoring position.
While McNeley improved to 28-5 in the circle, Virginia Wesleyan lefty Emma Adams absorbed her first loss of the season, closing the campaign at 23-1. She allowed Linfield's three runs on nine hits. She did not walk a batter, a feat she achieved in 23 of her 29 appearances in 2026. She struck out four batters. The NFCA First Team All-American capped her season by walking just seven batters in 125.1 innings. For her career, Adams only issued 30 bases on balls in 401.0 frames.
The Marlins were first to score on Friday with third baseman Samantha Deitsch driving in designated player Riley Curtice with a single to center in the second inning. Curtice turned run producer in the third with a sacrifice fly to center that plated pinch runner Cali Megaro for a 2-0 VWU advantage after three frames.
Linfield knotted the score with a pair in the sixth. Second baseman Lexiss Antle brought around pinch runner Josie Brooks with a grounder to short. Third baseman Emily Foytack followed two batters later with a single through the left side to plate pinch runner Ally Downing.
The Wildcats scored the would-be game-winning run in the seventh. First baseman McKenna Parmelee collected her second hit of the game with a single down the right field line to score left fielder Breanna Bartek for a 3-2 lead.
Right fielder Morgan Tucker, the ODAC Player of the Year, went 2-for-4 to close the season with a .507 batting average. Her 88 RBI reset her own ODAC single-season record, eclipsing the 76 RBI she posted in 2025.
Deitsch (3) and Laci Campbell (2) accounted for five of VWU's walks with Deitsch adding in a single.
Both head coaches in this game -- Jackson Vaughan from Linfield and Brandon Elliott from Virginia Wesleyan -- have won at a better than .800 clip. Vaughan advances to the third day with a 936-216-2 (.812) career mark as he approaches the end of his 25th season in McMinnville, Oregon. Elliott wrapped up his 20th year at his alma mater with a 721-160-2 (.818) career record.