CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The No. 7-seeded Shippensburg University softball team completed its 2025 season Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 loss to No. 6 seed Pace in an NCAA Division II National Championships Tournament game on a cool and rainy day at Frost Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (36-22), the Atlantic Region Champion, and Pace (46-12), the East Region champion, faced each other for the third time this season. The Setters swept a doubleheader at Shippensburg back on March 1 by scores of 5-0 and 14-8 at Robb Field.
 
On Saturday, senior Alicia Ball faced All-America First Team pitcher Gisselle Garcia for the fourth time in their career. Both pitchers provided complete-game efforts.
 
Garcia, ranked second in the nation in strikeouts (374) and third in strikeouts per seven innings (11.0), struck out 10 batters (including each of her first six outs she recorded) to post her 20th double-digit strikeout game of the season. It helped the No. 14-ranked Setters earn their 28th shutout of the season.
 
Ball fashioned her 22nd complete game of the season – tying her single-season career high from last season – and allowed just three singles, three walks and two runs (one earned) while striking out three.
 
Neither team had an extra-base hit. SU had five singles to Pace's three.
 
The game was more or less decided in the top of the second inning. After loading the bases with one out, Sophie Vallie blooped a ball into right field that resulted in two runs – one scoring on the hit and another scoring on an error.
 
SU managed five hits and two walks against Garcia and got the leadoff batter on in three innings but could not scratch across a run. The Raiders were shutout only four times in the 2025 season – twice by Garcia.
 
"I'm proud of our team for getting to this point, and for having an opportunity to experience what it's like to get to the [NCAA National Championships] at our level," head coach Alison Van Scyoc said.
 
Aryanna Briddell reached base in all three of her plate appearances, drawing a walk in the second and hitting singles in both the fifth and the seventh. One of those singles nearly went over the fence for a home run. Her second-inning walk tied the single-season school record (34) set by current assistant coach Hannah Marsteller back in 2023.
 
"The way our team came together this year played a huge part in the way that we played," Briddell said. "We got very close, and that helped our chemistry on the field. We played together as one, and I think that led us here. I'm just grateful for the ride."
 
Sophomore Brie Wilmot reached base twice, going 1-for-2 with a walk. Fellow sophomore Emily Lafferty stole a base as a pinch runner in the fourth, giving her 29 for the year. Lafferty finished with the third-most stolen bases in a single season in school history.
 
Saturday's game wraps up the career for Shippensburg's senior class: Ball, Briddell, Katelyn Minney, and Ally Weaver. The Raiders have gone 138-83 since the start of the 2022 season and qualified for the NCAA Tournament each season, with major highlights including the 2023 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship and this year's NCAA Atlantic Super Regional Championship.
 
Notes: Shippensburg completed its third NCAA National Championships appearance in school history, accompanying berths in 2003 and 2004…SU is now 35-39 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 3-6 in the NCAA National Championships…head coach Alison Van Scyoc is now 11-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament…SU dropped to 9-7 this season against nationally-ranked teams with Saturday's loss…Saturday's game marked the seventh time that Shippensburg has faced Pace over the last three seasons; Pace went 3-0 this season while SU won both ends of a home doubleheader in 2023 and 2024…Ball and Garcia each won twice in the four career meetings against each other…SU was the only team this season to face each of the nation's Top 4 pitchers in strikeouts per seven innings (Shepherd's Madelayne Ruffner (12.5), East Stroudsburg's Sarah Davenport (11.2), Garcia and Slippery Rock's Alexsa Hurd (10.6)…Ball made her 31st start of the season, one short of the single-season school record of 32 set by SU Hall of Famer Kelley Tiesi Key in 2006.