Suzanne Gersich (Wadsworth, IL/Warren) (jr, rf) hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to propel UW-Whitewater past DePauw University 2-1 in a must win game for UW-W in the NCAA Division III Regional hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. The Warhawks played DePauw earlier in the regional and lost to the Tigers 6-5 in eight innings. The regional is a double-elimination tournament which means the two teams will meet again tomorrow at 10:00 am to determine the regional champion and who gets to go to Salem, Virginia for the NCAA championships. UW-W post-season website
Box Score
The Warhawks threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Lauren Cruz (Des Plaines, IL/Maine West) hit a lead-off single to center and moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Amanda LeBeau (Worth, IL/Richards). Cruz then advanced to third on a Meghann Brennfleck (Fox River Grove, IL/Cary-Grove) single to put runners on the corners. A Megan Soultz (so, p) pitch strayed and hit Lauren Rankins (Marengo, IL/Marengo) to load the bases with just one out. However, Soultz got the next two UW-W batters to strike-out and ground-out to escape the inning unscathed.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth when a Kelly Schwerzler (so, 3b) single got past a UW-W infielder to score pinch runner Elyse Petruzzi (fr) to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Back-to-back doubles by Cruz and LeBeau to lead-off the top of the sixth ignited the Warhawks as they tied the score 1-1. The next batter, Brennfleck, walked to put runners on first and second, and a sacrifice bunt by Rankins put both runners in scoring position with only one out. Another walk by Soultz loaded the bases, but she managed to get out of the inning by getting the next two batters to strike-out and pop-out.
It wasn't until the ninth inning when the game ended on a Gersich single to left field that scored Ashley Smith (Elgin, IL/St. Edward Catholic) who had reached on a DePauw throwing error earlier in the inning. The error by DePauw is only their second in the NCAA tournament.
Jessica Stang (Minnetonka, MN/Minnetonka) went the distance for the 'Hawks as she surrendered only four hits and one run while striking out four. Stang is 11-4 this season. Soultz notched the loss for DePauw as she drops to 36-3 on the season. UW-Whitewater is 34-9 this season and DePauw is 40-3.
For additional information:
Brenda Volk, UW-W head coach, 262-472-1155
UW-Whitewater softball website
NCAA regional website
