SYLVANIA, Ohio -- The Lawrence Technological (Mich.) University softball team earned their first trip to the WHAC Tournament with a 3-1 win over second-seed Aquinas (Mich.) College on Monday, May 7. In the championship game, Lawrence Tech fell to University of Northwestern Ohio 3-2. The Blue Devils finished the season with their first winning record and tie the program record for wins in a season with 22.
Lawrence Tech (22-18) took the early 1-0 lead in the championship game as Meredith Adams (SO/Portage, Mich. ) RBI single scored Brittany Wieland (FR/Alexandria, Va.). The Racers tied the game in the bottom of the third with an RBI single and took the 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Lawrence Tech got one run back in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice from Jackie Mattingly (SO/Chino Hills, Calif.), but were unable to get the tying run in the bottom of the seventh.
Brittney Bult (SO/Brampton, Ontario) pitched 4.1 innings, earning the start allowing three runs on five hits with as strikeout and a walk. Sydney Schultz (SO/Commerce Twp, Mich.) pitched 1.2 innings in relief, allowing no hits, no runs and no walks. Meredith Adams finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI while Alex Amos (SO/Corona, Calif.) went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Mattingly finished the game 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and a putout.
jumped out to a 1-0 leads as Bailey Brown (SO/Mt. Pleasant, Mich.)'s RBI single scored Brittney Bult. Alexa Cherney (SO/Farmington Hills, Mich. ) started the game in the circle and breezed through the first two innings, putting the Saints down in order order. Cherney gave up her first three hits over the third and fourth inning, but a run in the sixth tied the six tied the game at 1-1.
The Blue Devils had a chance to take the lead in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Saints were able to get out the threat. In the ninth, Lawrence Tech put runners on first and second with one out when Katie Cyster (FR/Wyandotte, Mich.) reached on a throwing error from the pitcher to plate Wieland and Cherilyn Banas (JR/Oxford, Mich.) to give Lawrence Tech a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cherney put the side down in order with a pair of ground outs and a strikeout swinging to seal their trip to the championship game. Cherney finished with 12 strikeouts over nine innings with no earned runs on five hits. Bult went 3-for-4 with walk while Wieland went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
The Blue Devils return to action in 2018-19.
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