The Aquinas softball team traveled to both Sylvania, Ohio - and eventually Howell, Michigan - to compete in the 2021 WHAC Tournament Championship. After a lightning delay on Friday (May 7) caused the final two games to be postponed, the top-seeded Saints and second-seed Madonna resumed play on Monday (May 10). Aquinas dropped the opening championship game by a 9-1 score, but rallied back to take the winner-take-all second game by a 1-0 final.
With the victory, Aquinas wins the first WHAC Tournament championship in program history and completes the sweep after claiming the regular season championship. The Saints are the first school since Davenport in 2016 to win both titles outright in the same season.
After the tournament - which saw AQ beat Madonna twice in three tries - the Saints are 29-10 overall, while Madonna is 30-8. Both teams have earned a bid to the opening round of NAIA Nationals next week.
In the first game - which started on Friday - the Saints got out to a quick 1-0 lead after Brooke Wila got hit by a pitch, stole second, and advanced home on two Crusader errors. The Saints would stay in front until a big six-run fourth inning by Madonna gave them the 6-1 lead. After notching another run in the sixth, a lightning delay caused the game to be postponed for nearly three days, ending the day with a 7-1 MU advantage.
As the game resumed on Monday in the top of the sixth, Madonna tallied two more runs to go up 9-1. AQ was scoreless in the bottom of the inning to earn the Crusaders the six-inning, mercy rule win. It forced the 'if necessary' championship game to take place just 30 minutes after.
Sydney Dawson batted 2-2 in game one. Jordan Humitz and Izzy Dawson also added a hit for the Saints. Leah Vaughan (7-4) was given the loss, pitching three innings, but only one of her two runs allowed was earned.
To start game two, a dramatic first-and-third double steal with Wila (on third) and Kallie Sears (on first) allowed AQ to grab the 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first. Sears was intentionally trying to get caught in a rundown, allowing Wila to break for home and score the only run of the game when the Madonna catcher was ruled for obstruction of the plate.
The Crusaders' best chance to score came in the fifth inning. With a runner on second and two outs, the Madonna batter reached on an infield single and the runner attempted to score from second base, but Humitz fired home to Courtney Hardin. She applied the tag on the runner to end the inning and keep the game 1-0 in AQ's favor.
Aquinas starter Leah Ash was outstanding and stayed in the circle in the seventh for AQ to finish the game. Ash notched back-to-back looking strikeouts to start the frame. The last-chance batter for Madonna came up to the plate and I. Dawson made the game-ending groundout throw to claim the victory for the Saints, 1-0.
Ash (9-2) notched the shutout for Aquinas, pitching all seven innings and only allowing four hits. Ash tallied four strikeouts (half of them recorded in the seventh), and did not walk a batter.
AQ doubled up Madonna by tallying eight hits in the contest. Sears was the only Saint with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 and tallying a single in the first inning to move Wila to third base before she scored the game-winning run. Wila, Humitz, Hardin, Leigha Morse, Haley Aldred, and S. Dawson all hit singles. The Saints went 4-for-5 on stolen base attempts in the win.
Aquinas will learn its NAIA National Tournament fate on Tuesday afternoon (May 11). The Saints will be one of the 40 teams competing at 10 opening round sites across the country.
