2013 Gardner-Webb Softball Season Review
May 21, 2013 | Softball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - In what was a down year for the Gardner-Webb softball team in terms of wins and losses, the Runnin' Bulldogs overcame a lot of adversity throughout the 2013 season to finish the season out on a high note and move forward toward progressing in 2014.
Despite its 13-31 overall record, the Runnin' Bulldogs refused to give up on the season, as head coach Tom Cole's squad won nine of its last 13 games to wrap up the regular season and finish the Big South Conference slate in a tie at sixth-place overall at 8-16 in League play. However, Gardner-Webb was handed the No. 7 seed overall in the 2013 Big South Softball Championship Tournament presented by Musco Sports Lighting due to the tiebreaker rules and drew a very tough bracket, which included No. 2 Campbell, No. 3 Longwood and No. 6 Liberty. GWU dropped back-to-back contests to No. 2 Campbell and No. 3 Longwood in the postseason tournament, bowing out of the annual conference championship event without at least one win since the Runnin' Bulldogs joined the Big South in 2008-09.
Overall in 2013, the Runnin' Bulldogs hit .281 as a team on the season, which ranks second in GWU's NCAA DI single-season history, and posted a total of 15 home runs on the year, which ranks as the eighth most by a GWU team in a single-season in its 13 years as an NCAA Division I member.
Gardner-Webb also did work in the field in 2013, as the Runnin' Bulldogs as a team posted a fielding percentage of .963 overall, the second best fielding percentage by a team in GWU's DI single-season history and only .001 point shy of the team single-season record of .964 set back in 2007. As part of the fielding percentage mark, the Runnin' Bulldogs overall committed only 42 errors on the season, a new GWU Division I single-season team record surpassing the previous record of 48 total miscues in 2009.
Individually, the Runnin' Bulldogs had four different players receive postseason honors, three of which came by of the Big South Conference. Sophomore shortstop Savannah Burns was named the 2013 Big South Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, making it the second straight season in which the Runnin' Bulldogs have received the highest academic honor as Jane Savage earned the award in 2012, and also earned a spot on the Big South All-Academic Team, while junior Samantha Meenaghan and redshirt-junior Morgan Baker each received All-Conference honors for the third straight year.
Baker, who led the team with eight home runs and 11 doubles on the season, which both rank seventh overall in GWU's Division I single-season history, and in RBI with 39 on the year, which ranks as the fifth most in GWU's DI single-season history, was named to the Big South All-Conference Second-Team. Baker, who hit .306 with a total of 41 hits on the season overall, posted a .582 slugging percentage on the season, which is the sixth best slugging percentage by a GWU softball player in a single season in the Runnin' Bulldogs' 13-year Division I history.
Meenaghan, who led the team and was second overall in the Big South Conference with a .427 batting average, which ranks second in GWU's DI single-season history, was named to the 2013 Big South All-Conference First-Team for the third straight year. The junior infielder also led the Runnin' Bulldogs with 67 hits, which ranks fourth overall in GWU's DI single-season history, 30 runs scored, 90 total bases and an average of .477 in League play, which was second overall in the Big South on the season.
However, the accolades did not stop there for Meenaghan, as the Florida native was also named to the College Sports Madness 2013 Big South All-Conference Team for the second straight season. While Meenaghan earned Madness First-Team All-Conference recognition, sophomore Kellie Beres was named to the College Sports Madness 2013 Big South All-Conference Second-Team as well. Beres, who played and started all 44 games for GWU in left field on the season, led the team and the Big South overall with 18 sacrifice bunts on the season. In fact, Beres ranked as high as second in the nation in sacrifice bunts per game with an average of 0.41 per contest. The slap-hitter, who also led the team with nine stolen bases on the season, was second on the team with 45 hits, 25 runs scored and a batting average of .338 on the season, which ranks in the top-10 in GWU's DI single-season history.
The Runnin' Bulldogs, who were picked to finish sixth overall in the Big South Preseason Coaches Poll, had high expectations in 2013 after coming up just one game shy of the Big South Softball Championship Title Game in each of the last two seasons and coming off a year in which GWU posted a program best 11 conference wins overall in 2012.
Nevertheless, the 2013 season got off to a slow start for the Runnin' Bulldogs as back-to-back losses to both Furman and USC Upstate, as well as the cancellation of a number of early season contests due to rain, put Gardner-Webb at 0-4 overall after the first two weeks of play.
After a three-game winning streak, which included a 9-5 win over Morehead State and a 4-2 victory at UNC Wilmington as part of the Seahawk Classic, as well as a 3-0 shutout of Southern University at the War Eagle Classic, seemed to right the ship and put the Runnin' Bulldogs at 3-4 overall on the season, back-to-back losses to the SEC's Auburn and the Big Ten's Minnesota at the War Eagle Classic jump started a downward spiral for the Runnin' Bulldogs who lost its next 16 straight games.
Over the 16-game losing streak, which is the Runnin' Bulldogs' longest losing streak in a single season in its 13-year Division I history, Coach Cole's squad played 10 true road games and 11 total games away from home and Boiling Springs, N.C. during that span, which included losses to USC Upstate, Charlotte, Campbell, #23 nationally ranked Georgia, Longwood, Presbyterian and Coastal Carolina.
Refusing to throw away the rest of its season, the Runnin' Bulldogs recorded a 3-2 walk-off win on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh by Baker versus Coastal Carolina on March 30th to snap the losing skid and record its first conference win of the year.
Sitting at 4-20 overall and 1-9 in the Big South after the come from behind win over Coastal Carolina, the Runnin' Bulldogs looked to get back on the right track to start the month of April yet suffered back-to-back losses at Western Carolina, 8-7 and 8-1, in non-conference play, and then three straight losses to the Winthrop Eagles in League play at home to fall to 4-25 overall and 1-12 in conference action.
Looking to finish the season out strong, the Runnin' Bulldogs' determination and character came to light in mid-April as Gardner-Webb finished the regular season out with nine wins over its final 13 games, which included seven victories in Big South play.
GWU's strong finish down the stretch started with an 11-8 come from behind win over Presbyterian College in game one of a conference doubleheader, in which the Runnin' Bulldogs' erased a first-inning seven-run deficit in the victory.
Following the come from behind win, Gardner-Webb went on to defeat PC 2-0 in game two of the twin bill in Clinton, S.C. to post back-to-back wins for the first time since late February.
The Runnin' Bulldogs then pushed its winning streak out to three straight with a 4-2 game one win at Liberty, matching its longest winning streak of the 2013 season. However, the Lady Flames would defeat GWU 3-1 and 13-5 over the final two games of the three-game conference series to end the Runnin' Bulldogs' run and drop GWU to 7-27 overall and 4-14 in Big South play.
Disappointed but not done, the Runnin' Bulldogs bounced back to sweep the North Carolina A&T Lady Aggies in dominating fashion 4-1 and 11-1 on the road and then went on to take two of three from the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in Charleston, S.C. to move to 11-28 overall and 6-15 in the conference with three games remaining in the regular season.
In its final conference series of the year, the Runnin' Bulldogs posted back-to-back shutout wins at 1-0 and 5-0 over the Radford Highlanders, before dropping the third game of the three-game series 11-8 to finish the conference regular season slate at 8-16 and in a tie for sixth-place overall with the Liberty Lady Flames.
Due to Liberty's 2-1 head-to-head record with the Runnin' Bulldogs in the regular season series, Gardner-Webb was given the No. 7 seed in the 2013 Big South Softball Championship Tournament presented by Musco Sports Lighting. With the No. 7 seed came a first round match up with No. 2 Campbell, who went on to defeat the Runnin' Bulldogs 4-3 to send Gardner-Webb into the loser's bracket in the double elimination tournament against No. 3 Longwood. The Runnin' Bulldogs battled the Lancers in a very tight and low scoring game to the very end, when a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled Longwood, the eventual 2013 Big South Conference Champions, to the 4-2 win over the Runnin' Bulldogs to end GWU's season.
While redshirt-senior outfielder Melinda Dulkowski, as well as senior infielders Jordyn Arrowood and Brittney Morrow, will not return in 2014, Coach Cole's squad returns 10 players from the 2013 roster overall, including seven starters, three pitchers and each of its top-six offensive performers, all with the common goal to win it all in 2014.
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