MONTGOMERY, Ill. – Concordia University Wisconsin's Rylie DuVal singled in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Lakeland University softball season ended with a 3-2 loss Saturday in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament.
The fifth-seeded Muskies were eliminated with their second loss in the double-elimination portion of the tourney, finishing the season with a 26-17-1 record. No. 2 seed Concordia (28-14 overall) advanced to a second elimination game later in the day against top seed Dominican University, after the Stars lost to No. 3 Benedictine University 6-4 in Saturday's second game.
Lakeland battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and received an outstanding relief pitching effort from
Natalie Ziebell (
So.-New Holstein, Wis.). The Muskies lost in walk-off fashion by a single run for the second time in the tourney, though, and lost for the second time in extra innings this season to the Falcons, who also topped Lakeland 4-3 in 10 innings back on March 29.
Concordia's final rally started the same way it did in that previous extra-innings encounter, with Julia Moker leading off with a hit, this time a single. Moker was retired on a fielder's choice, though, and Jenna Shadoski was at second base with two outs when DuVal singled to right field to drive in the winning run, just as she had driven in the go-ahead run in the teams' first meeting.
The Muskies fell behind 2-0 after two innings after the Falcons scored single runs in the first and second frames, including an unearned run in the second. Lakeland tied it back up in quick fashion in the fifth, though, with its first three batters of the inning.
Mackenzie Staudinger (
Jr.-Manitowoc, Wis.) led off with a walk,
Carlie Morrow (
Sr.-Menasha, Wis.) reached on an infield single and
Maddie Raske (
Jr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) drove in pinch runner
Kaylee Hunt (
So.-St. Paul Park, Minn.) and Morrow with a double down the left field line to tie the game at 2-2.
The Muskies will rue missing on two excellent opportunities to take the lead, though, including in the fifth when
Sam Marchant (
Sr.-Green Bay, Wis.) singled to move Raske to third with just one out and
Callie Linders (
Jr.-Griffith, Ind.) walked to load the bases. An infield pop-up and a fly out ended the inning, but Lakeland then put two on with no outs in the sixth after a single by
Lexi Howard (
So.-Crown Point, Ind.) and a walk to Staudinger, but a pair of strikeouts and a fly out ended the threat.
Ziebell came on in relief of starter
Lily Pettit (
So.-Rewey, Wis.) in the second inning, and after allowing an inherited runner to score she held the Falcons scoreless for the next six innings. Ziebell got out of a two-out jam in the third inning that included an error to load the bases and then did not allow a runner past second base from innings 4 through 8. Ziebell had retired 12 of the previous 13 CUW batters before the Falcons' ninth-inning rally, including facing the minimum in the fifth, sixth and eighth.
Ziebell finished pitching 7 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and one run with two strikeouts in another hard-luck loss for the first team all-NACC hurler. Howard finished with two hits and added a walk to lead the Muskies at the plate, and Linders also singled and reached three more times on walks to finish the season reaching base in the team's final 23 games.
Emma Shellstrom picked up the win in relief for Concordia, throwing 4 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and four walks.
The game was the final one for seven Lakeland seniors: Marchant, Morrow,
Abby Heitman (
St. Francis, Wis.),
Jacie Jones (
Prairie du Sac, Wis.),
Sydney Meyer (
Crown Point, Ind.),
Grace Portenier (
Sheboygan, Wis.) and
Kamrynn Wiltzius (
Sheboygan, Wis.).
