Sylvania, Ohio – The Saints returned to the diamond today (May 4) for the second day of the WHAC Tournament in the second round of the elimination bracket. Aquinas got to this point yesterday after falling to No. 4-seed Madonna in the first round by a score of 5-4 in the eighth inning. AQ then matched with top-seeded Indiana Tech in the first round of the elimination bracket and won 1-0 to advance in the tournament while eliminating Indiana Tech in the process.
Aquinas went on to match with the No. 3-seed Concordia Cardinals today in a back-and-forth battle.
Izzy Dawson hit her 30th career home run in the top of the seventh inning to give Aquinas a 5-4 lead late in the game. That home run passes Ashley Aspinall's program record of 29 career home runs to give Dawson the most career home runs in AQ softball history.
AQ entered the bottom of the seventh frame with a one-run advantage. However, the Cardinals rallied and managed to come back in the bottom of the final inning to earn a 6-5 victory.
Aquinas finished its season with a 32-19 record, giving head coach,
Brad Koch, his fourth season with 30 or more wins.
The game started with
Leah Vaughan reaching base on a one-out walk. A pair of errors from the Cardinals loaded the bases for Aquinas and, with the bases loaded,
Courtney Hardin hit a sacrifice fly to left field to give AQ the early lead.
Concordia responded in the bottom of the second frame after a batter was hit by a pitch and the Cardinals strung together two singles to load the bases with two outs. CUAA then hit a double down the left field line to bring two runners across home and take a 2-1 lead. Following the double, the Saints turned to
Leah Ash to take over pitching duties. Ash picked up the final out of the inning to get Aquinas out of the jam.
AQ was able to respond back in the top of the third inning as Concordia committed a pair of errors to allow Vaughan to reach base and then score to tie the game at two.
Following the Aquinas run, Ash pitched well for the Saints as she retired six of the next seven batters to keep the score tied heading into the fifth inning.
Jaden Benschoter kicked off the top of the fifth inning with a single into center field.
Ashley Snyder pinch ran for Benschoter and reached second base after a sacrifice bunt from
Emma Houseman. Vaughan continued to find a way to get on base in the ensuing at-bat as she was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out.
Another error from Concordia loaded the bases for AQ as Dawson reached base on a fielder's choice play. A wild pitch then allowed all of the runners to advance, giving AQ a 3-2 advantage.
Darrien Roberts came through with a big RBI single up the middle to give AQ another run for a 4-2 lead.
Over the next two innings, CUAA finally started to get the bats going against Ash and tied up the game at four heading into the seventh inning.
The Cardinals retired the first two Aquinas batters quickly in the top of the seventh frame to bring Dawson up to the plate. With the game on the line, AQ's Gold Glove third baseman hit a massive, record-setting home run over the left-center wall to give the Saints the lead.
Concordia fought back quickly in the bottom of the seventh inning as it needed a run to keep its tournament hopes alive. Shannon McAlinden started with a leadoff single as Aquinas went back to the bullpen to bring
Kayla Fessenden into the game for the save attempt.
The Cardinals kept the bats going and picked up two more singles to load the bases with one out. The home side kept the rally going and hit another pair of singles to tie the game and then walked it off with a 6-5 victory.
The win kept Concordia alive as the Cardinals went on to beat UM-Dearborn and Cornerstone to make it to the championship game against Madonna tomorrow. AQ looks to turn its attention to the offseason after finishing the tournament with a trio of games decided by just one run.
