Box score: #5 Wayne State 8, #8 Hillsdale 2
The magical postseason run for the Hillsdale College softball team came to an end Friday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.
The Chargers were eliminated from the regional tournament in an 8-2 loss to Wayne State University in a game played at Grand Valley State University. The team's season ends with a 23-28 record.
It was a 3-2 ballgame until the Warriors (34-24) scored four runs, all with two outs, in the fifth inning to break the game open. The rally started with an innocent dribbler down the first base line that barely stayed fair, but it led to consecutive doubles that allowed Wayne State to take command in the game.
Hillsdale trailed 3-0 when it scored once in the second and third innings. Emma Johnson's RBI single scored Victoria Addis, and Jessica Taylor doubled to dead center field, bringing home Amanda Marra for the team's second run of the game.
Marra, named NFCA Second-Team All-Region on Thursday, set Hillsdale's single-season at bat record with her 174th in the bottom of the fifth inning of what would turn out to be her final game. She went 2-for-3, scoring once.
Senior Katie Kish became the fourth player in school history to record 70 hits in a single season, joining Sharyl Loose, Sarah Princinsky and Bekah Kastning. Kish went 1-for-4 in the game with a single.
Kish, Marra, Taylor and Carly Gouge form a senior class that won back-to-back conference tournament championships – a first in school history – and won 99 total games through their four years with the program.