READING, Pa., Saturday, May 7, 2011-- Once around the order in the bottom of the first and Messiah College took Arcadia junior starter Kelsey Roberts and the Knight's defense for seven runs only to build upon that lead with seven more over the next four innings as the Falcons grabbed their third straight league crown in today's Commonwealth Conference championship game, winning 14-0 in five innings. The Falcons out-hit the Knights 12-3 behind another solid outing from sophomore starter Jocelyn Hickey, her second and the team's second victory over the Knights in as many days. Arcadia went 2-0 since dropping a close 1-0 game to the Falcons on Friday and 2-2 in the tournament and end the season 24-12, an impressive turn-around from last season's 14-25 mark.

Down 7-0 early, head coach Linda Detra went to first-year reliever Heather Buriak with two outs away in the first, seeing her first post-season action. Buriak would last 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits against the nationally ranked Falcons before Detra again went to her bullpen for junior Erin Ficca, also seeing her first action of the post-season. Ficca would close out the final inning as the Falcon bats kept pounding out the offense, registering four more runs, three earned off five hits to win by the eight-run rule in the bottom of the fifth. Arcadia got hits from junior Lindsey Henchinski, sophomore Brandee Zablotsky and first-year Jess Wood in their final game.

Over the four-game slate, the Knights hit just .211 as a team, led by Henchinski, Zablotsky, junior Erin Wojciesyzn and sophomore Marissa Perez, each tallying three hits. Wojciesynz earned the lone extra-base hit for the Knights.

Arcadia bounced both Lycoming and top-seeded Lebanon Valley from the tournament Saturday morning.  After the Knights sent Lycoming packing with 4-1 loss, the Knights went right to work against the Dutchmen. First-year Jess Wood tossed a three-hitter and allowed just one run to the number one seed Dutchmen and a two-run single from senior Ashley McCarthy in the second inning gave Arcadia Softball a 2-1 victory, their second straight of the day. Their victory over Lebanon Valley advanced them to the Commonwealth Conference Championship game six where they met the number two seed Messiah College Falcons, a team they needed to beat twice on Saturday to win it all. It would have meant four games in a row for the Knights while game six for Messiah was their first game of the day. Arcadia, who dropped both regular season games to LVC just a week ago, out-hit the Dutchmen 4-3 in the must-win game behind the best performance to date from Wood who had her complete aresnal working. Wood held the league's top-hitting team to just three hits and one run in the bottom of the fifth on a sac fly. Arcadia had a 2-0 lead after the top of the second coming as senior Virginia Buechel and sophomore Brandee Zablotsky were brought home by McCarthy's game-winning hit. LVC (29-9) starter Val Malizza worked 6.1 innings, allowed both Arcadia runs on four hits with seven strikeouts before Laura Snyder entered in the seventh.

The Knights lose three starters from their team to graduation later this month. Virginia Buechel, Ashley McCarthy and pitcher Kellie Reese served the team as four-year starters in the infield, producing a wealth of the team's offense over their time with the program and whose solid defensive play helped to twice propel the Knights to the Commonwealth Conference post-season tournament.