Northwestern held off a late Doane rally to defeat the Tigers 6-5 in the second championship game of the Morningside Bracket of the 2018 GPAC Softball Tournament. The win puts the Red Raiders into the overall GPAC Tournament Championship on Monday, May 7 in a best of three series against Midland in Fremont, Neb.
By advancing to the title game against Midland, the Red Raiders, now 33-10 overall, also secured the GPAC’s second automatic bid into the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round. The Warriors earned the first automatic bid after winning the GPAC regular season title, and, by league rules, if the regular season champion gets to the tournament championship as well, the second bid goes to the team they will play. Northwestern will be making its first national tournament appearance since 2002 and third overall (also in 1997).
With Northwestern leading 6-3 heading into the seventh, Doane scored two runs on a pair of hits and had the tying run at third base with two outs before Red Raider pitcher Emma Schnell forced Haileigh Arthur into a ground out to second to end it.
Schnell (17-3) picked up her team-leading 17th win and 20th complete game of the year, giving up nine hits and five runs in the full seven innings.
Held to two hits through the first three innings, Northwestern bats came alive with nine hits and six runs over the final four innings. Madison Beaver went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs from the leadoff spot, including a key two-run home run in the sixth inning that gave her team a 6-3 lead. Both Jensen Boger and Cheyenne Wilcke went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI while four other Red Raiders had one hit each.
Trailing 2-0 after a two-run single by Tigers’ left-fielder Jordan Van Roy in the third inning, Northwestern scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to grab the lead for good. Emily Bosch led off with a single and scored the first run on a double by Boger, chasing Doane starting pitcher Josie Schnakenberg from the game. Wilcke greeted new Tigers pitcher Haileigh Arthur (8-3) with a double, scoring Boger and tying the game at two. Katie Elliott followed with a single, moving Wilcke to third and then a double steal scored the third run when Wilcke crossed home plate. Northwestern added its final run on a double by Amanda Everhart.
Van Roy led off the sixth inning with a solo home run, cutting the Red Raiders lead to 4-3. Nachtigall’s squad came back with two big runs in the bottom of the sixth when Schnell singled to center and scored on Beaver’s third home run of the season.
Arthur took the loss for Doane, giving up five hits and two runs in two innings. Van Roy led the Tiger’s offense with two hits and four RBIs. Nicole Fernandez went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Doane forced the winner-take-all bracket championship match-up by defeating Northwestern 4-2 in game one. Arthur pitched three scoreless innings in relief of starter Hannah Feagler to earn the win, giving up just one hit and striking out one.
Tied at two, the Tigers scored the go-ahead runs in the sixth when Fernandez walked and came around to score after a Northwestern error on a bunt put down by Brittney Amezquita. Doane added a second run on a sacrifice fly by Tayler Mashburn, scoring Van Roy.
Kayla Tindall (15-6) took the loss for the Red Raiders, giving up five hits and two earned runs in seven innings. Beaver led the Red Raider offense with two hits, including a leadoff, solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Wilcke added a solo shot in the second inning, her 12th of the season, and one that set the record for most home runs hit (45) in program history (old record of 44 set in 1996).
