ROCHESTER, Minn. – Winona State University nearly defied the odds. The Warriors arrived at RYFSA Complex on the final day of the NSIC Tournament facing an uphill battle with the task of winning four games on Saturday in order to raise back-to-back postseason titles. After three victories, and eight and a half hours on the diamond, WSU ultimately came up just one game short.
The back-to-back regular season champs fell into the loser's bracket of the tournament on Friday when their extraordinary 31-game winning streak finally came to an end. The Warriors bounced back from their first defeat in over a month to set up Saturday's marathon.
Winona State began the day by knocking off two regionally-ranked foes to set up a heavyweight battle between the two top seeded teams in the conference tournament.
WSU dismissed St. Cloud State in the morning, 4-2, before avenging Friday's 1-0 loss to Minnesota State Mankato with a 4-0 triumph. A Carly Kordich walk-off double in the seventh frame against Augustana pushed the teams to a winner-take-all scenario where the Vikings prevailed, 8-1.
Lani Van Zyl sparked the offense in the top of the first inning against St. Cloud with a two-run homer and Ann Smolenski tacked on an RBI-double in the frame to give Jordyn Kleman all the cushion she would need in the circle. Kleman three-hit the Huskies in the victory before Liz Pautz took over in the next two ballgames.
Pautz (20-2), playing in her first collegiate postseason, dominated the opposition. The sophomore turned in back-to-back complete game shutouts against Mankata and Augie to force the finale of the championship series. Pautz four-hit Mankato with eight strikeouts and after a brief intermission, returned to the circle to strike out 10 Augustana batters. With her seventh shutout of the season, Pautz's ERA shrinks to 0.68 – second among all Division II pitchers.
In the fourth and final tilt of the afternoon, Winona State simply appeared to run out of gas on the first warm and sunny day of the tournament. The Warriors threatened in the bottom of the first inning of the finale against Augie, loading the bases with one out but failed to scratch the plate. WSU stranded 10 runners in the loss, including two bases-loaded situations.
The Vikings carried the momentum of blanking the Warriors in the first frame into the top of the second where they broke through for five runs. The explosive Augustana offensive dinked-and-doinked Kleman in the inning and was aided by a Winona State error. The Warriors, who entered the weekend ranked second in the country in fielding percentage, committed four miscues in the finale, further exemplifying the toll the day had taken on the players.
Trailing 6-0 in the sixth, Winona State looked like it had one more miracle in the tank. Alexis Kelsey led off the frame with a double, Smolenski followed with a single and Rylee Stout's RBI-single put the Warriors on the board. Two batters later, Kordich loaded the bases on an infield single with just one out, but the Vikings snuffed out the WSU rally.
Kordich, Pautz, Van Zyl and Kayla Kerkman were named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the day.
In a season that has been loaded with program records, the Warriors tallied another milestone, concluding the day with a record of 50-7, marking just the third 50-win season in program history (second in two years) – each under the guidance of head coach Greg Jones.
Augustana (51-8) earns the NSIC's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional with its tournament championship, but they will be joined by Winona State. Both teams will learn their regional seeding and destination on Monday at 9 a.m. during the NCAA DII Softball Championship Selection Show. The Warriors ranked No. 2 in last week's ranking ahead of No. 3 Augustana and owned a 3-1 head-to-head record against the Vikings this year. The top two seeds in each region will host on May 9-11.
