COLUMBUS, Ga. – Six programs won both games on Friday at the 2025 Division III Leadoff Classic, hosted at the South Commons Complex. No. 2 Linfield, No. 7 Case Western Reserve, No. 25 Huntingdon, Gettysburg and St. John Fisher all enjoyed an unblemished start on the first day of the Leadoff.
Preseason No. 2 and defending tournament champion Linfield launched four home runs, three off the bat of Cydney Hess, in a 14-7 season-opening win over No. 10 Trine. After falling behind 3-0, the Wildcats scored 14 straight, six courtesy of Hess’ long balls in three consecutive innings (4th, 5th, 6th). They improved to 2-0 rallying with a three-run sixth to edge RV Saint Benedict, 7-6.
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Power was a theme all day, with teams combining to hit more than 60 home runs across the 24 games so far.
No. 25 Huntingdon used one big inning each in wins over Denison and Stevens to improve to 10-0 on the season. Trailing the Big Red 7-5 in the fifth, the Hawks scored six runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh for a 12-7 triumph. They exploded for eight runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to erase a 2-0 deficit and run-rule Stevens, 10-2 in six innings.
Following a 4-1 win in its season-opener against Stevens, St. John Fisher rallied from 5-2 down late and won 7-6 in eight innings against Pacific Lutheran. Twenty-second-ranked Redlands opened with a big 13-4 victory over Wartburg and then edged No. 18 Pfeiffer, 4-2.
Gettysburg, also opening its season in Columbus, received a complete-game shutout from Abigail Gold in a 2-0 win over LeTourneau. The Bullets carried the momentum into their matchup with No. 6 Tufts, picking up a big 7-4 win over the Jumbos, a 2024 DIII World Series participant.
Case Western Reserve opened its 2025 campaign with a 10-2 win over DePauw, pulling away with six runs in the fifth. The Spartans followed with a win over defending national champion East Texas Baptist University. Case took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh. After the Tigers cut the lead to 6-5 and put the tying run on second, Lacy Lara fanned the final batter to end the threat.
Also picking up wins on the first day of the tournament were Alma, No. 5 Belhaven, Piedmont, DePauw, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Trine, Denison, Pacific Lutheran, Saint Benedict, LeTourneau and ETBU. Alma, Piedmont, Trine, LeTourneau and Denison rebounded from tournament-opening defeats, while Pacific Lutheran, ETBU, UWEC and Saint Benedict won their first games of the day. Bennies head coach Rachael Click notched her 300th career victory in Saint Benedict’s morning win.
The NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) is the professional organization for fastpitch softball coaches. Known for its highly-regarded Leadoff Classic tournaments, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels: from webinars to awards, to in-person and virtual events, and a National Convention.
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