Doovy HanThe post season appearance of Washington University’s softball came to a screeching halt as DePauw University and Coe College shut them out.
The Red and Green (25-15) came into the NCAA Tournament after edging No.1 DePauw 1-0 in its regular season finale. The victory on a sunny day in May ended the Tiger’s 37-game winning streak.
Wash. U., the 2008 UAA Conference Champion, was given a low seed in the Midwest Regional. “Coming off of last year’s season, no one knew what to expect from this team who had lost such a big part of their line-up,” freshman pitcher Claire Voris said. “But, I think this little group of 13 really surprised some people.”
The Bears had another closely contested game against Tri State University in the first round. Junior Kerry Kreitman hit the game winning RBI to score senior Karli Stander in the top of the third. The Bears put together three straight singles and capitalized on a fielding error to win the game. Freshman Claire Voris excelled in the pitcher’s circle, striking out eight.
The double elimination tournament brought the Bears face to face with the Tigers of DePauw in the second game. The offense was unable to strike at crucial moments, and Wash. U. fell 5-0 despite stranding nine runners throughout the game. “We would get a lead off single or double almost every inning, but we couldn’t get those key hits to score runs,” co-captain and junior Lindsay Cavarra said.
DePauw struck fast with three runs in the second off a fielding error. The Tigers finished off the Bears with two doubles to score two runs in the fifth.
Wash. U. had one last chance to stay in the tournament, but Coe College prevented the Bear’s offensive machine from getting ignited. With only three hits, the Red and Green could not overcome Coe’s early lead. Coe started to pull away by taking advantage of two Wash. U. errors in the bottom of the second to score two. The Kohawks added another run in the third before putting the game out of reach with a four run sixth inning that spelled doom for the Bears. Wash. U. fell 7-0 to take sixth in the Midwest Regional.
For seniors Karli Stander, Kaylyn Eash, Amy Vukovich, Krista Swip and Laura D’Andrea, this was their last time on the field in their collegiate career. D’Andrea had a single in her last collegiate at bat, but the team was unable to rally in the seventh.
“This season was one of my favorites because of how close our team was, and it will be hard replacing our five graduating seniors,” Cavarra said.
Next year will see the return of eight veterans. “I look forward to what I know we will accomplish in the future,” Voris said. “The outcome this season will only serve as motivation for next year.”