Muhlenberg College Athletics

After waiting through a day of rain to begin play in the NCAA Tournament, the Muhlenberg softball team did some more waiting, and it left them within one win of a championship.

Scoring in three innings, all of which began with leadoff walks, and getting outstanding pitching, the Mules (34-11) defeated two nationally ranked NESCAC teams - Middlebury and Tufts - to advance to the championship game of the NCAA regional.

Muhlenberg will face the winner of Saturday morning's elimination game between Middlebury and Tufts. If the Mules win, they will claim the regional title and move on to face the winner of the regional hosted by defending national champion Trine in the super regional round.

Should Muhlenberg lose on Saturday, the two teams would meet again in a winner-take-all game on Sunday. 

The Mules overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first game to defeat 25th-ranked Middlebury, 5-4, on a bases-loaded single in the seventh by senior Scooter Hulsen, and plated three first-inning runs in the second game for all they would need in a 3-1 win against 18th-ranked Tufts.

After Middlebury hit a three-run homer in the second inning of the first game, freshman Eden Clark and junior Josie Krieman combined to allow only one earned run on eight hits in the next 12 innings.

Clark fanned eight in her five-hit complete game, improving to 15-5 on the season. Given a one-run lead in the top of the seventh, she hit the first batter in the bottom of the inning but struck out the next hitter on three pitches and retired the final two on harmless fly balls.

The Mules, who entered the day having drawn only 87 walks in 43 games, showed tremendous patience at the plate against Middlebury, drawing nine free passes - easily their most this season.

The plate discipline showed up especially in the fourth, when Muhlenberg earned five bases on balls. After freshman Sofia Gallahue led off with a walk - only her fourth of the season - and back-to-back singles by junior Lillie Teague and Hulsen brought in a run, the Mules took the lead on three consecutive bases-loaded walks, to freshman Kineta Bradley, junior Peri Kahn, and junior pinch-hitter Leah Grimm.

The Panthers (33-9) tied the score in the fifth, and Muhlenberg's winning rally in the seventh started with another walk, to freshman Josie Hoffacker. Another bases on balls to Gallahue and and infield single by sophomore Hailey Godin loaded the bases before Hulsen drove a 1-1 pitch between short and third for the game-winning hit.

Krieman was brilliant in the second game against a Tufts squad that came in with a team batting average of .349 and averaging nearly seven runs per game. She allowed only five hits, walked none, and struck out four, with her own error leading to the lone run plated by the Jumbos (31-10). 

With the tying runs in scoring position, Krieman got the final batter of the fifth to fly out, then retired all six hitters she faced in the sixth and seventh.

Sophomore Ava Storlazzi led off the first with a walk and went to second on a groundout. She stopped at third when Godin singled to center, but when Tufts threw the ball all the way home, Godin took off for second. The throw from the catcher was high and went into center field, allowing Storlazzi to score.

Teague, the next batter, lined a hit to center that skidded on the wet grass all the way to the fence. Godin scored easily and Teague motored around to third, after which she was awarded home when the relay was thrown out of play.

pictured above: Teague (center) celebrates with Godin and Hulsen.

The Mules won their first two NCAA Tournament games only once previously in their history - in their very first appearance in 1989, when they dropped their next two contests.