MILWAUKEE – The Lakeland College softball team was on the wrong end of another outstanding pitching performance and saw its season end with a 3-0 loss to Benedictine (Ill.) University in an elimination game in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament on Friday.
Benedictine pitcher Holly Haberkorn pitched a four-hit shutout and the Muskies finished 0-2 in their first conference tournament appearance since 2012. Fifth-seeded Lakeland finished the season with a 21-17 record, the team's first winning record since 2012, while No. 3 seed Benedictine (29-14 overall) advanced to another elimination game where it will face either 6 seed Concordia University Chicago or No. 4 seed Dominican (Ill.) University.
Haberkorn needed just 73 pitches to earn the win in a briskly played game. The first team all-conference pitcher struck out five and walked none in earning her 16th win of the year. She also avenged a loss to the Muskies on April 24th, when
Taylor Bush (
Fr.-Waukesha, Wis.) and
Savannah Stenlund (
So.-Rapid River, Mich.) combined to give Lakeland a narrow 3-2 win.
Bush faced Haberkorn again this time and was nearly her equal. She allowed seven hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out three, but was done in by her lone two walks plus two two-out hits that scored all three Benedictine runs.
The Eagles had a runner at second with two outs in the bottom of the third after Bush struck out Kassee Johnson looking, but Shannon Fritsche and Kailee Cable both worked their way on for walks to load the bases. Courtney Grasz then singled through the right side to score two runs and give Benedictine a 2-0 lead.
The game remained that way until the bottom of the sixth. The Eagles had one potential run cut down at the plate when center fielder
Calie Delisi (
So.-Oak Forest, Ill.) threw out Liz Jimenez trying to score. Haberkorn followed with a single to put runners at first and third, bringing on Stenlund in relief, but Kelli Holstine greeted her with a bloop single to center to score Jenna Boyajian and make it 3-0.
Lakeland's best chance to score came early when it loaded the bases in the top of the second.
Angela Tribuzio (
So.-Huntley, Ill.) singled,
Caten Teff (
Jr.-Alpena, Mich.) reached on a bunt and
Sami Jo Williams (
Jr.-Sussex, Wis.) got on board on a fielder's choice with runners safe all around, but Bush grounded sharply at third baseman Boyajian, who tagged Tribuzio and threw to first for the inning-ending double play.
The Muskies also had chances in the third and seventh innings, getting runners to third base with two outs, including Tribuzio singling with one out in the seventh, moving up on a fielder's choice and then stealing third. The game ended, though, on a liner by Williams that was snared by Haberkorn for the final out.
Tribuzio went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Delisi and Teff had the other hits for Lakeland. Haberkorn threw 56 of her 73 pitches for strikes, and the game finished in just 1 hour 14 minutes.
Lakeland came out on the wrong end of two close, low-scoring games in Milwaukee, also losing a tough 2-1 decision in nine innings to Dominican on Thursday. Pitchers Stenlund and Bush combined to allow just five runs in 16 innings, a 2.19 earned run average over the tournament that over the course of the regular season would've ranked second in the NACC.
The Muskies are now 9-14 all-time in the NACC Tournament and have a best finish of third at the event in 2007, 2009 and 2010. Lakeland went 1-2 in its most recent appearance in 2012.
NACC Tournament Bracket
