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Findlay, Ohio -- The Wayne State University softball team (41-9 overall) won its third consecutive GLIAC Tournament title and extended its current winning streak to 16 games with a 9-3 triumph over GLIAC regular-season champion Ohio Dominican University (29-27 overall) in the championship game of the league tournament. WSU went 4-0 during the league tournament and extended its current winning streak at the conference tournament to 10 games.
Last year, the Warriors did things the hard way winning six consecutive contests after dropping the opener in extra innings, while the 2012 team won four straight one-run decisions to walk away with the hardware.
The Panthers scored first in the bottom of the second as Allie Hinton homered deep to center field on a 3-0 offering leading off the frame.
WSU responded with a five-run third inning with all the runs coming with two outs.
Gabby Williams (South Lyon, Mich.) had a leadoff single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Emily Cava (Brampton, Ont. / Cardinal Leger S.S.).
Logan White (Brantford, Ont. / Johnson C.V.I.) singled through the right side to put runners on the corners. White moved to second on a ground out, before
Emily Bryce (Rochester Hills, Mich. / Rochester Adams) laced the eighth pitch of her at bat into right center putting the Warriors ahead for good.
Julie Ingratta (Markham, Ont. / St. Thomas of Villanova College) followed wtih an RBI single, and
Jade McGarr (Guelph, Ont. / St. James Catholic) ripped a 3-1 pitch over the left center field fence making it 5-1.
ODU had an infield single in the fourth after
Lyndsay Butler (Cambridge, Ont. / Centennial C.V.I.) had set eight down in a row.
Wayne State added to its lead in the fifth as Butler had a leadoff single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bryce, one of four sac bunts by the Warriors in the contest. Ingratta doubled to right center bringing home Butler and McGarr tripled to right field scoring Ingratta. With two outs,
Devin Hentschel (Wyoming, Mich. / Rogers) singled to center scoring McGarr with WSU's eighth run.
Butler recorded three strikeouts in the fifth working around an infield hit and a Warrior error.
Wayne State tacked on another run in the sixth as Butler had a one-out infield single, went to second on a wild pitch and after a pop out, advanced to third on another wild pitch. Ingratta's hit up the middle was stopped by the Panther shortstop who was unable to make play allowing Butler to score.
Ohio Dominican scored twice in the sixth on two singles and a double cutting the Warrior lead to 9-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, the ninth-place hitter advanced to second on a couple of WSU miscues with one out but the pinch-hitter lined out to Ingratta at second who stepped on the bag to complete the double play.
Butler limited the GLIAC's highest-scoring offense to three runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks to improve her record to 21-4.
The Warriors pounded out 16 hits against three Panther pitchers with Rachael Stanzel (20-14) taking the loss after surrendering five earned runs on seven hits in three innings.
Eight different Wayne State batters had hits led by a 3-for-4 effort from Ingratta with three RBI, while Butler, Bryce, McGarr and Williams each had two hits. McGarr totaled three RBI and seven total bases, while Bryce had the game-winning two-run double.
Wayne State has won 40 or more games for the fifth time in school history, and for the third time in the last six seasons.
The NCAA Division II Softball Selection Show will be televised on NCAA.com at 10 am on Monday. The Warriors will see if a early season win over Indianapolis, and a 16-game winning streak heading into the NCAA tournament along with an impressive 41-9 overall record is enough to be one of the top two seeds in the region and host an NCAA Midwest Regional next weekend.
