Needing just one win on the third day of the NCAA Division III regional at Tufts, the last thing the Muhlenberg softball team wanted to do was drop the first championship game, extend their stay in Massachusetts another day, and play a winner-take-all game on Sunday for the title.
Besides, seniors
Scooter Hulsen,
Sophia Jacobson and
Maddy Svenningsen wanted to get home to graduate with their classmates.
The Mules took care of business, and made sure their seniors could participate in Muhlenberg's Commencement exercises, coming from behind twice to defeat Middlebury, 7-5, and capture the program's first-ever regional title.Â
Muhlenberg (35-11), which won the regional as the third seed by winning three straight games against nationally ranked opponents, advances to the super regional round, where it will travel to Indiana to play a best two-of-three series against defending national champion Trine. The winner of that series advances to the championship round, which is scheduled to begin on May 28 in Salem, Virginia.
After leaning on their starting pitching to win two games the previous day, the Mules unleashed their bats against NESCAC champion Middlebury, which had eliminated Tufts with a 5-0 victory in the consolation bracket final. Muhlenberg pounded out 13 hits and scored all seven of its runs in the first four innings.
The Mules countered single runs by the 25th-ranked Panthers (35-10) in the first and third and trailed 3-2 when they came to bat in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman
Josie Hoffacker led off with a two-strike hit and advanced to second when sophomore
Ava Storlazzi beat out a bunt.
After a sacrifice bunt, sophomore
Hailey Godin brought in the tying and go-ahead runs with a triple to deep right. Godin scored on a squeeze bunt by junior
Lillie Teague, and after a single by freshman
Izzy Wilmot, two more runs scored on an error. The five-run outburst gave Muhlenberg a 7-3 lead.
Middlebury did not go away quietly, though, scoring a run in the next half inning before sophomore
Abigail Kim came on in relief to retire the final two hitters with the bases loaded.
Kim stranded the bases loaded again in the sixth, striking out the last hitter she faced, and freshman
Eden Clark retired the side in order in the seventh for her first career save.
Hulsen was named Most Outstanding Player of the regional after going 4-for-8 in the three games and driving in three runs. Her RBI single in the third was the 150th hit of her career.
Earning spots on the regional all-tournament team were Godin, who went 4-for-4 with three RBI in the final, junior
Josie Krieman, who earned wins in the circle in each of the Mules' last two games, and sophomore
Sofia Gallahue, who in addition to going 2-for-3 in the winner's bracket final against Tufts, made a highlight-reel diving catch in right field in the second inning of the final.
Muhlenberg, which broke the school record for runs scored in a season, gives the Centennial Conference a representative in the supers for the second consecutive year, after Gettysburg advanced to the Round of 16 last spring. And the Mules were one of only two three seeds to win regionals on Saturday; the other was also the Mules, of Colby.
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