ALLIANCE, Ohio -- The No. 4 seed Heidelberg University Softball team came up short in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship game, falling to the No. 6 seed Capital, 7-2, on Saturday. The Student Princes beat No. 2 seed Muskingum in the semifinals, 7-2.
Capital receives the OAC's automatic qualifier in the NCAA Tournament.
Heidelberg moved to 28-15 on the season.
SEMIFINALS: BERG 7-9-2 MUSKIES 2-8-0
The semifinals started on Friday and eventually finished on Saturday afternoon. Muskingum scored first with a single run in the opening inning. Their lead was erased when
Alexis Burton launched a solo homer in the second.
Play was halted by rain in the top of the third inning and pushed to Saturday. Originally scheduled for an 11 a.m. restart, the game was further delayed by a water-logged outfield at the 23rd St. Field facility. The game officially resumed a bit before 3 p.m.
Megan Miller was the first hitter and, knowing the outfield was still a little soggy, launched the fifth pitch over the wall in left field. The solo home run gave HU the lead and an important jolt of energy.
HU tacked on two more in the fourth.
Ellie Tressler and
Alexis Burton reached, then Lean Arnett bunted the runners into scoring position. Abie Marshall dropped a single into center, plating Tressler and pinch runner
Morgan Franklin.
Ahead 4-1, HU added one more in the fifth when
Adyson Bowe led off with a solo home run.
Muskingum managed to scratch a run across in the sixth, but trailed by three.
In the seventh, Bowe had a one-out single and slid safely into third on a record-setting double by
Cara Meyer. Tressler delivered a base hit that plated one and Burton lifted a sacrifice fly that plated another.
The five-run cushion was more than enough for
Haley Gockstetter (W, 19-4). The sophomore scattered eight hits and struck out two.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: CAPITAL 7-11-1 BERG 2-5-0
With only enough time between games to switch dugouts and eat a sandwich, Heidelberg met No. 6 seed Capital in the title game.
After a scoreless first, Arnett was hit by a pitch to lead off the second. She hustled to third when Marshall scorched a double to left.
Taylor Forrest drove in Arnett with a soft single to left, then Bowe hit a sacrifice fly that scored Marshall by a whisker.
Capital knotted the game on a two-run double in the fourth, added two in the fifth, and scored three in the sixth, taking a 7-2 lead.
Heidelberg had two in scoring position in the sixth, but were unable to score. The side was retired in order in the seventh.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE: Meyer's double in the semifinals was her 22nd of the year, setting a new program record for a single season. She passed Marissa Smego, who hit 21 in 2016 … Gockstetter's 19th win tied her atop the program's single season record list. She equalled Paige Atterholt, who won 19 in 2015 … Burton's homer in the semifinals was her 10th of the season, becoming the first freshman in program history to reach double digits … The 28 wins are third-most in program history.
UP NEXT: The 64-team NCAA Tournament features 42 teams with an automatic qualifier bid from their respective conferences. The remaining 22 teams are taken from the highest non-AQ teams, based solely on the
NCAA Power Index rankings. Once all of the AQs are handed out on Sunday, The Berg will know whether or not they will be one of the highest 22 schools remaining. The NCAA selection show is scheduled for Monday at 11 a.m.
