Messiah’s softball team marched undefeated through the postseason to capture the program’s first Division III national title in the sport with a 2-0 win over Coe in Montclair, New Jersey, Monday afternoon.

It was the first national championship for Messiah that didn’t involve one of its soccer programs. In fact, the men’s and women’s soccer teams won matching NCAA titles this past fall.

“It feels good to have our own national championship,” said Messiah coach Amy Weaver, whose team finished 43-4 on the season. “We’ve been motivated by the success of our other teams. We wanted to do the same thing, and it was a motivating force for us.”

Freshman Jessica Rhoads struck out 13 batters in the championship game to add to a list of her dominating performances. In four games at the finals site, Rhoads struck out 53 while walking only five in 28 innings of work.

Rhoads was so automatic that Messiah scored just nine runs in the four games of the championship – the third-fewest runs ever scored by a team in the national tournament and only the third time a team has scored 10 runs or fewer en route to a crown.

After watching Rhoads blank his team for a second time, Coe coach Bob Timmons had plenty of praise for the Messiah right-hander.

“Rhoads helps a lot because you don’t have to play a lot of defense when she’s out there,” Timmons said.

Coe, which defeated Gustavus Adolphus, 4-2, earlier in the day to advance to its first national final, ended the season with a 41-13 record.

Messiah scored its first run in the fourth, and catcher Abby Bergakker hit a solo homer in the top of the seventh to add an insurance run. Rhoads, who allowed only two hits, shut down the Kohawks the rest of the way.

“The entire team felt we were underestimated because we were unranked,” said Weaver, who won the 300th game of her career. "The entire team was motivated by that, and we wanted to prove what we were about.”

Game No. 1

Tex.-Tyler               000      010      0          --          1          10       2

Gust. Adolphus        000      005      x          --          5          5         2

Stacey Shepherd, Kelsey Ainsworth (6) and Ashley Klores; Betsie Collins, E. Truebenbach (7) and Dani Cattrysse. W – Collins. L – Shepherd. HR – Kirsten Prunty (GA).

Game No. 2

Ohio Northern             000      010      0          --          1          6         1

Messiah                       001      002      x          --          3          6          0

Courtney Cash and Kim Blewett; Jessica Rhoads and Abby Bergakker. W – Rhoads. L – Cash. HR – Jaclyn Merkel (M).

Game No. 3

Tufts                           100      011      0          --          3          8          0

Cortland St.                000      100      0          --          1          7          1

Izzie Santone and Cara Hovhanessian; Katie Finch and Katie Fusco. W – Santone. L – Finch.

Game No. 4

Salisbury                     000      000      0          --          0          2          1

Coe                            000      010      x          --          1          7          2

Kelsey Mills and Lauren Brenneman; Ashlee Simon and Megan Jack.

Game No. 5

Tex.-Tyler                 110      002      0          --          4          8          0

Ohio Northern           001      000      1          --          2          9          0

Stacy Shepherd, Kelsey Ainsworth (5) and Ashley Klores; Cortney Cash, Maggie Molnar (6) and Kim Blewett.  HR – Megan Richards (TT), Whitney Wyly (TT), Kate Bell (TT).

Game No. 6

Cortland St.                100      000      0          --          1          8          2

Salisbury                     101      000      x          --          2          4          4

Katie Finch and Katie Fusco; Stacy Davis, Kelsey Mills (4). W – Mills. L – Finch.

Game No. 7

Gust. Adolphus            000      000      0          --          0          0          0

Messiah                       200      000      x          --          2          7          0

E. Truebenbach and Kelly Myers; Jessica Rhoads and Abby Bergakker. W – Rhoads. L – Truebenbach.

Game No. 8

Coe                             001      000      0          --          1          4          2

Tufts                            000      000      0          --          0          3          0

Sonja Schwenker and Megan Jack; Lauren Gelmetti and Cara Hovhanessian. W – Schwenker. L – Gelmetti.

Game No. 9

Salisbury                     301      000      0          --          4          9          5

Gust. Adolphus           510      004      x          --          10        9          0

Erika Brittingham, Stacy Davis (2) and Lauren Brennaman; Callie Nelsen, Betsie Collins (2) and Dani Cattrysse. W – Collins. L – Brittingham. Andrea Brown (GA), Kirsten Prunty (GA).

Game No. 10

Tufts                            020      200      0          --          4          9          1

Tex.-Tyler                   000      000      0          --          0          4          0

Izzie Santone and Cara Hovhanessian; Stacy Shepherd, Lauren Scruggs (4) and Ashley Klores. W – Santone. L – Shepherd. HR – Lena Cantone (Tufts), Casey Sullivan (Tufts).

Game No. 11

Messiah                       200      000      0          --          2          3          0

Coe                             000      000      0          --          0          1          0

Jessica Rhoads and Abby Bergakker; Ashlee Simon and Megan Jack. W – Rhoads. L – Simon. HR – Rhoads (M).

Game No. 12

Gust. Adolphus           100      031      0          --          5          9          0

Tufts                           000      000      0          --          0          3          2

E. Truebenbach and Kelly Myers; Izzie Santone, Lauren Gelmetti (7) and Cara Hovhanessian. W – Truebenbach. L – Santone.

Game No. 13

Coe                              200      011      0          --          4          12        1

Gust. Adolphus             101      000      0          --          2          5          1

Sonja Schwenker, Ashlee Simon and Megan Jack; Betsie Collins, E. Truebenbach (6) and Dani Cattrysse. W – Schwenker. L – Collins.

Championship game

Messiah                                AB      R         H         RBI

Abi Buchler 2b                        2          0          0          0         

Rebekkah Funk cf                   3          0          1          0

Jaclyn Merkel lf                       2          1          1          0

Jessica Rhoads p                     2          0          0          0

Tiffany Stokes pr                     0          0          0          0

Lindsay Hall 3b                       2          0          0          0

Abby Bergakker c                  2          1          1          1

Lauren Seneca ss                    2          0          0          1

Nicole Adams 1b                   2          0          0          0

Jessica Brown ph                   1          0          0          0

Rebecca Stackhouse dp         2          0          0          0

Megan Rice ph                       1          0          0          0

Tori Hatt rf                             0          0          0          0

Totals                                    21        2          3          2

Coe                                       AB      R         H         RBI

Ashley Leonard ss                  3          0          1          0

Katherine King 2b                  2          0          0          0

Erica Smothers cf                   1          0          0          0

Chelsea Zaugg lf                     2          0          0          0

Amy Hanse 1b                       3          0          0          0

Sonja Schwenker rf                0          0          0          0

Danielle Levens rf                   3          0          1          0

CC Williams 3b                      2          0          0          0

Mackenzie Lang dp                2          0          0          0

Megan Jack c                          2          0          0          0

Amanda Hanson cf/2b             1          0          0          0

Ashlee Simon p                       0          0          0          0

Totals                                     21        0          2          0

Messiah           000      100      1          −          2          3          0                                

Coe                 000      000      0          −          0          2          0

LOB − Messiah 4, Coe 2. 2B − Funk, Merkel. HR − Bergakker. SH − Hall. SF − Seneca. CS − Zaugg, Levens.

Messiah                    IP        H         R         ER      BB       K

Jessica Rhoads, W      7          2          0          0          2          13

Coe                           IP        H         R         ER      BB       K

Ashlee Simon, L         7          3          2          2          4          5

WP − Rhoads, Simon. Umpires − Thomas Harman, Bob Milosavljevic, Rachel Hunter. T − 1:32. A − 500.