Lawrence Beats Top-Seeded Chapman in Playoffs

Top-seeded Chapman ran into a team with nothing to lose, and Lawrence upset the Panthers, 2-0, in the NCAA Division III West Regional softball playoffs Thursday at Hart Park.

Sara Schye, who beat St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minn.) earlier, 1-0, pitched her fifth consecutive shutout and had two hits and two runs scored in addition to pitching a four-hitter for Lawrence of Appleton, Wis.

Chapman (31-7), which won the Division III national title in 1995 and was the runner-up in 1996, now must fight through the losers’ bracket to earn a trip to the NCAA Division III finals May 14-17 in Salem, Va.

Chapman will play the Cal Lutheran-St. Thomas winner at 4 p.m. today, and must win to advance to Saturday, when the Panthers will have to win three times to get to the finals.

Lawrence (25-10) plays Buena Vista (Storm Lake, Iowa), an 11-8 winner over second-seeded Cal Lutheran, in the winners’ bracket final at 2 p.m. today.

“We just didn’t hit the ball,” Chapman Coach Janet Lloyd said.

That is unusual for the Panthers (31-7), who came in averaging 6 1/2 runs and were hitting .362. All-Americans Jessamine Maiben and Stephanie Carew combined for three popouts, two flyouts and one lineout.

“I told our players we had 14 fly-ball outs,” Lloyd said. “Our basketball team could have beaten us when we hit the ball like that.”

Lawrence scored a run in the first on two singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly by Joy Rogatzki off Chapman starter Katie Smithson (6-1), who lost for the first time this season.

Although Chapman’s Catie Lacy pitched five innings of hitless relief, Lawrence scored its second run after an errant throw into right field by Chapman third baseman Lacee Rashi enabled Schye to score from first in the third inning.

In the NAIA Far West Regional:

Southern California College 7, Bethany College 0 (forfeit)--A flight delay caused Bethany (Lindsborg, Kan.) to miss the start of the game and SCC advanced to the second round. Bethany was eliminated in a losers’ bracket game by Azusa Pacific, 9-0. The Vanguards (45-10) play Pt. Loma Nazarene, a 1-0 loser to Hawaii Pacific, at 9 a.m. today at SCC.