Bulldogs Drop Heartbreaker In A-Sun Championship
May 12, 2007 | Softball
DELAND, Fla. – The Gardner-Webb softball team nearly did the unthinkable, but came up just short of its goal for an Atlantic Sun Conference championship. Picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, the Bulldogs lost the first game on Saturday 3-0 before dropping a 6-4 heartbreaker in the second game.
GWU ends the season at 35-26-1.
After getting a run in the first and two in the second, head coach Tom Cole substituted Angie Walls for Alison Coffey. The Hatters put runners on all bases and pinch hitter Katie Lawrence drilled a pitch that seemed to be destined to land outside the park, but a speedy Kelly Linsley raced back to the wall, reached up and snagged what would have been a grand slam for the final out of the inning, keeping the score at 3-0.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the bottom half of the third as lead-off hitter Joanna Ward nailed an Erica Demers pitch to straight-away center field for a solo homerun and slicing the lead to two at 3-1.
The Hatters added two runs in the fourth, one coming on a suicide squeeze while the other came on a throwing error on the same play, widening the gap to 5-1.
The Bulldogs continued to battle back. With two outs in the fourth, Emily Sherrill singled up the middle. Lindsey Whitfield then launched a two-run homerun to right center field, making the score 5-3. Jessi Williams followed it with a walk and Joanna Ward nearly knotted the game at 5-5, but her long fly ball died on the warning track, ending the inning.
GWU's Linsley and Looper each had infield singles in the fifth with one out, but Jessi Polk popped up while the Hatters' second baseman made a diving catch on a Melody Harrell blooper to preserve the score at that point.
With the bases loaded in the sixth and two out, Amy Peters hit a ball to Whitfield, who bobbled it and tried to beat the runner going from second to third, but was too late, allowing the Hatters to push the score to 6-3.
Williams helped out the Bulldogs' cause in the sixth with a two-out blast over the right field fence, closing the gap to two at 6-4.
The Bulldogs nearly came back in the seventh as Haley Scism led off with a single. Looper then doubled to left to put runners at second and third, but the squad was unable to plate the runners.
In the first game of the day, the Hatters forced the 11th game of the championship by taking a 3-0 victory over the Bulldogs.
Stetson got a run in the first, which proved to be all it would need. Andrea Migliori's sacrifice fly scored Sherrell Fountain for what turned out to be the game-winning run.
In the fifth frame, Nicole Forbes' two-run homer put the contest out of reach.
GWU would struggle offensively in the contest, getting just one person on in the game. The lone single came off the bat of freshman Jessi Polk.
The Bulldogs had several hard hit balls, but hit them right at the Hatters' defense.
Taryn Beck took the loss, falling to 18-11 on the season while Demers picked up the victory.
The Bulldogs had four players on the Atlantic Sun Conference all-tournament team. Those players were Harrell, Whitfield, Williams and Beck.
With only Looper graduating, and a Top-100 prospect already signed, the Bulldogs look to be loaded and make a run to the NCAA Tournament in 2008.
| Overall Statistics |
| Game 1 |
| Game 2 |
