Warriors sweep the MCC
Softball team adds league tourney title to regular-season crown
By Chris Todd and Bob Fenske
Of the Summit
FOREST CITY - Laura Read had no doubt that the Waldorf College softball team would sweep through the Midwest Collegiate Conference softball tournament last week in Cedar Rapids.
“There wasn't a point in the tournament where I felt we were going to lose,” said Read, a Warrior sophomore from Stanhope. “All season long, we've had different people step up in key situations. We won't overpower anyone, but we do a lot of the little things that win games.”
In the tourney opener against Iowa Wesleyan last Thursday, it was Read who came up with the big hit in a clutch situation.
With the score tied at three in the bottom of the eighth, Read led off with a solo homer to center, giving the Warriors a 4-3, walk-off victory.
“It was the first pitch and it was right down the middle,” Read said of her game-winner. “I had a feeling it might get out but I wasn't positive. I was a little nervous before the at-bat and I just wanted to get on base and start a rally.”
She did more than that, but then this group of Warriors has been exceeding expectations all-season long. They followed game one up with a 2-0 shutout of Clarke College Thursday, then beat Grand View 4-3 in 13 innings Friday before edging Clarke 2-0 again later in the day for the playoff title.
“I told them they just keep amazing me every day,” Waldorf coach Denny Gilbertson said. “There's no quit in them, and they believe they can beat anyone; at the same time, they never look past anyone either.”
The 4-3 win over Wesleyan Thursday gave the Warriors some solid momentum, and they followed that up with the 2-0 win over Clarke College the same day to stay in the winner's bracket.
Friday, the Warriors opened by winning a nailbiter, a 4-3 victory over Grand View in a 13-inning marathon. Sophomore Rachel Hannam had the big blow, a three-run homer in the fifth to turn a 3-0 deficit into a tie game. Leadoff hitter Louise Mudra drew a bases-loaded walk in the 13th frame to provide the game-winning run.
Waldorf's ace righthander Chelsey Dougherty threw all seven inning in Thursday's 2-0 win over Clarke, then went all 13 innings vs. Grand View.
“I was pretty sore after the 13-inning game,” said a chuckling Dougherty, who shares Read's confidence. “I was confident all the way though. We've been getting clutch hits all year, and I knew once we went ahead, we didn't have anything to worry about.
“We're a young team, but we're also a strong team. And we're always up and never really get down during our games, even when we're behind.”
Hannam's shot also came on the first pitch.
“It was a fastball, and it felt good as soon as it left the bat,” said Hannam, a sophomore from St. Ansgar. “I couldn't stop smiling as I rounded the bases. I knew that at that point, we had all the momentum.”
In the championship round, the Warriors beat Clarke in another 2-0 decision for the conference title. This time, senior Kristin Mariner's RBI-double gave Waldorf all it needed to win. Suter tossed an eight-hit shutout for the win.
“I'm confident in the circle because we've been playing such good defense since we got back from Arizona,” said Suter, who used that defense often after not striking out a batter.
“I don't think a lot of people expected us to be that good at the beginning of the season,” said Suter. “And we proved this weekend that our regular season championship wasn't any kind of fluke. Some other teams went into this conference tournament thinking we weren't really that good. We proved them wrong.”
With the four wins, the Warriors enter this week's NAIA Region Tournament VII Tournament in Des Moines with a 37-12 mark.
“We think we can win it and that we can play with anyone,” said Hannam.
Gilbertson, meanwhile, has now led the Warriors to nine MCC championships, including the past five regular season titles and tournament titles in 2004, 2005, 2006 and now 2008.
He will be the first to admit this year's team may be his biggest surprise of all; after all, when it returned from it's annual spring trip south, it was just 8-7 and frankly, not playing very well.
Since then, the Warriors have gone on a 29-5 tear, including 23-5 in MCC play for yet another regular season conference title.
“It's like we got back from Arizona and the switch went on,” Gilbertson said. “We're not going to overwhelm anyone, so that means we have to pitch it, we have to field it, and we have to get the timely hits.
“It sounds simple, but this team probably has to do the little things more than any team we've had in recent years.”
Gilbertson echoed his squad's assertions that different players keep stepping up and delivering in the clutch.
“We've had so many kids step up this year,” he said. “It's just been an amazing run. I don't know if I've ever had a team come so far from the start of the season.
“To say I'm proud of them...that doesn't even come close to describing my feelings for this team.”
Story created May 06, 2008 - 10:16:34 CDT.
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