MARSHALL, TX -- #20 Rowan had its season come to a close as the Profs fell, 5-2, to #2 East Texas Baptist Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Championship Tournament hosted at ETBU's Taylor Field.

The Profs fought through a pair of elimination games on Friday and Saturday to be one of the four teams remaining in the tournament, finishing in third place. Rowan caps its 2024 season with a 41-10 record, reaching the Division III Championship Tournament for the eighth time and in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. The third-place finish matches the team's best result at the nationals since 2016, with last year's squad placing fifth.

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Liz McCaffery was 2-for-4 with a run scored, RBI, and a double. Kaitlyn Riggs added two hits while Cat Thomas chipped in an RBI groundout. This was the second meeting of the teams in the tournament as ETBU won 7-0 in both team's series opener on Friday.

Haylie Stum drove in two runs and Tauryn Cummings added three hits for the Tigers, who move on to the NCAA Championship Finals that begin on Tuesday, June 4th. Pitcher Avery Holland allowed the two runs (one earned) on six hits.

McCaffery doubled off the wall in left center to lead off the game. After a sacrifice to third, Thomas plated McCaffery with a groundout to third to give the Profs a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers answered in its first at-bat, totaling three runs on five hits off of Rowan starter Rylee Lutz. The Profs stranded runners on the corners in the second before ETBU struck again in the bottom half with an infield hit on a sharp liner to third to score a two-out run and make it 4-1 in favor of the home team.

Rowan threatened again in the fourth getting back-to-back singles from Payton MacNair and Riggs to lead off the frame. Now at second and third with one out, Holland induced a pair of groundouts to end the inning.

Stum made it 5-1 with her RBI single in the fifth.

Tripodi led off the seventh with a single and later come around to score on McCaffery's RBI groundout before the Tigers ended it for the 5-2 final score. Lutz (20-8) suffered the loss. Emily McCutcheon came on after the first to throw the final five innings.