2012 Gardner-Webb University Softball Season Review
May 22, 2012 | Softball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - For the second straight year, the Gardner-Webb University Runnin' Bulldogs came up one win short of reaching their first ever Big South Conference Championship game as head coach Tom Cole's squad fell to No. 3 Charleston Southern, 8-0, in the semifinals on Saturday night. Yet the Runnin' Bulldogs' had a strong season, as their 28 wins is the most in one season since GWU posted 35 wins in 2007 and is the fourth most wins by a Gardner-Webb team in a single season in their 12-year NCAA Division I history.
As a team, the Runnin' Bulldogs 383 hits ranks third in GWU's NCAA DI single-season history, while the team batting average of .267 ranks fourth in the team record books. GWU's 196 runs is tied for the third most in a single season in their DI history, while their 27 home runs is the fourth most for a team in a single season.
GWU also recorded 174 RBI as a team on the year, which is the third most for a Runnin' Bulldog team in their Division I era and totaled 136 walks, only 10 shy of the Gardner-Webb Division I single-season record for a team. On the defensive side, the Runnin' Bulldogs turned 20 double plays on the year, tying their Division I single-season record set back in 2007.
Gardner-Webb had six players earn Big South Conference postseason honors, the most that the Runnin' Bulldogs have had in a single season since joining the Big South in 2008-09. Sophomore Samantha Meenaghan and redshirt-sophomore Morgan Baker earned First-Team All-Conference honors, both for the second straight season, while senior McKenzie Morenus, redshirt-senior Cindy Boomhower and freshman Amanda Gomes were all named to the Second-Team All-Conference Team. Both Morenus and Boomhower also earned a spot on the 2012 Big South All-Tournament Team, while Gomes was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Mid-Atlantic All-Region Second-Team.
Senior Jane Savage, who was named to the Big South All-Academic Team for the second straight year, was named the 2012 Big South Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was one of four recipients for the Big South Conference's 2012 George A. Christenberry Award.
Meenaghan, who was also named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Mid-Atlantic All-Region First-Team, led the League with a .409 batting average which ranks second overall for a single season in GWU's Division I record books. The sophomore's 74 hits not only led the Big South, but also was a new school record surpassing the previous record of 73 hits set by Abbie Looper in 2007. She also finished the season tied for third in the Big South in triples with three on the year and was fifth in runs scored with 35, which also ranks fourth overall in GWU's DI single-season record books.
Morenus was fifth in the Big South with a .554 slugging percentage, which ranks eighth overall in GWU's Division I single-season history. Her team-high eight home runs, placed her in a tie for seventh for the most home runs in a single season in GWU's DI history, while her team-high 33 RBI put her in a tie for ninth-place in the record books.
Boomhower was first in the Big South with four saves, third in the conference with a 2.10 ERA, third with 45 batters struck out looking, and fifth with 13 wins. Her team-high four saves is tied for the most in a single-season by a GWU pitcher in the program's Division I history, while both her team-best 2.10 ERA and 13 wins are third in their respective categories in GWU's Division I single-season record books. The two-time Big South Pitcher of the Week also posted her first career perfect game on March 9th, defeating UNC Wilmington 6-0 at the Winthrop/adidas Invitational.
Picked to finish sixth in the Big South Softball Coaches Preseason Poll, the Runnin' Bulldogs turned some heads as head coach Tom Cole's squad posted an 11-10 Big South Conference record. The 11 conference wins was the most for a GWU team in a single-season since joining the Big South in 2008-09 and ties the program's record of 11 conference victories back in 2004 as Atlantic Sun Conference members.
The Runnin' Bulldogs started the season off with a doubleheader sweep of Morgan State at home in which two players blasted their first-ever career home runs in the two wins.
After back-to-back losses on the road at Furman, GWU returned home to sweep North Carolina A&T in a non-conference twin bill and push their record to 4-2 overall and 4-0 at home. However, the undefeated home record would not last for long, as the next day the Runnin' Bulldogs suffered a sweep to the hands of USC Upstate to fall to 4-4 overall heading into the Seahawk Classic.
At the Seahawk Classic, the Runnin' Bulldogs went 2-3 overall for the three-day event, falling to Kansas and twice to Fairfield, yet swept host UNC Wilmington in their two meetings in the tournament.
A road contest at No. 7 Georgia proved to be too much for the Runnin' Bulldogs, as the Georgia Bulldogs defeated GWU 14-1 in five-innings in Athens, Ga.
Gardner-Webb then competed at the 2012 UF Lipton Invitational hosted by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. There, GWU opened up the tournament with an 8-6 win over Tennessee State, yet dropped the next four games, two to No. 3 Florida and two to Eastern Michigan, to give the Runnin' Bulldogs their longest losing streak of the season to date.
GWU bounced back to drop Tennessee State 6-5 in the final game to snap their losing skid and move to 8-12 overall on the year.
The win sparked the Runnin' Bulldogs who next defeated Albany 2-1 and UNC Wilmington 6-0, in which Boomhower pitched a perfect game, pushing their winning streak to three-games in a row. Yet, the second day of the Winthrop/adidas Invitational did not go as well for GWU, as the Runnin' Bulldogs dropped back-to-back games to Bowling Green and St. John's to fall to 10-14 on the year.
With tournament play over, Gardner-Webb remained out of conference play to sweep South Carolina State in dominating fashion on the road before splitting with UNC Greensboro at home to move to 13-15 overall heading into Big South action.
The conference season did not start the way that Coach Cole and his squad had planned, as Liberty came into Boiling Springs, N.C. and swept the Runnin' Bulldogs at home to put GWU at 0-3 to start the conference slate.
After a 6-4 road win at Presbyterian, Gardner-Webb took one of two on the road from Coastal Carolina and then returned home to take the first two games of the three-game series versus Campbell to move to 17-20 overall and 4-6 in Big South action.
GWU would next step out of conference play one final time to host the Charlotte 49ers, as the two teams split the midweek doubleheader in Boiling Springs.
The Runnin' Bulldogs then hit the road for a three-game conference series with the Winthrop Lady Eagles and after dropping the first game 1-0, GWU posted back-to-back come from behind victories over the home team to improve to 20-23 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
Looking to get over the .500 mark in conference play, Gardner-Webb returned home to take two of three over then second-place Charleston Southern in a weekend conference showdown to advance to 22-24 overall and 8-8 in conference play with five games left in the regular season.
A doubleheader sweep of Presbyterian, 7-1 and 3-2, would wrap up the Runnin' Bulldogs home slate and put GWU at 24-24 overall and 10-8 in the Big South heading into their final conference series of the year.
At Radford, the League leaders at the time and eventual regular season champions, Gardner-Webb posted a 4-1 win on a complete game by sophomore hurler Jessica Childers to start the series. However, the Highlanders would take the next two, as Gardner-Webb finished the regular season at 25-26 overall and 11-10 in conference play.
After waiting a week to see where they would finish in the Big South regular season standings, Gardner-Webb finished in fifth-place, giving them the No. 5 seed in the 2012 Big South Softball Championship Tournament presented by Musco Sports Lighting.
With the No. 5 seed, Gardner-Webb, who drew the No. 4 seeded Campbell Fighting Camels in the first round, used a late three-run seventh, including a two-run home run off the bat off redshirt-junior Melinda Dulkowski, to upend the Fighting Camels and advance in the winners bracket.
In the next round, the Runnin' Bulldogs would battle the top-seeded and host Radford Highlanders in a marathon contest before the Highlanders scored in the bottom of the 10th to earn the 1-0 win and knock GWU into the losers bracket.
With their backs against the wall, GWU came out swinging as Morenus blasted two home runs and fellow senior Lindsea Hutchinson hit a monster bomb to left field against the No. 7 Presbyterian Blue Hose to defeat PC 11-9 and move on in the double-elimination tournament.
After a 6-2 win over No. 3 Charleston Southern moved the Runnin' Bulldogs one win away from the championship game for the second straight season, Gardner-Webb simply ran out of gas in their next contest, their fifth in a three-days, as the Runnin' Bulldogs fell to No. 3 Charleston Southern 8-0 to end their season.
While the Runnin' Bulldogs will lose a lot of talent and experience with the graduation of Boomhower, Morenus, Hutchinson, Savage and Michelle Primm, Coach Cole's squad still returns 15 players that have started double digit games over the last two seasons, including all-conference performers in Dulkowski, Baker, Gomes and Meenaghan, as well as a number of young players biding their time this season who will look to have breakout years in 2013.
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