SYLVANIA, Oh. – The 2023 WHAC softball tournament kicked off Wednesday afternoon with all eight teams competing at Pacesetter Park in the double elimination tournament. The Indiana Tech softball team finished the regular season as the WHAC champions and came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, earning them a matchup with No. 8 seed Lawrence Tech University (Mich.). All four first round matchups started at 4 pm, with the second round of games on the day starting at 7 pm.
In game one, the top seeded Warriors battled No. 8 seed Lawrence Tech. The Warriors got on the board first in the bottom of the first after Kennedi Sullivan hit an RBI single to score Alyssa Fox. Lawrence Tech would take the lead in the top of the second inning 2-1, before Jordan Dippel would hit an RBI single for the Warriors to bring home Kiersten Delaney to tie it at two. The Blue Devils would again take a one run lead in the fourth after an RBI single down the rightfield line. The Warriors would fight back again to tie it in the bottom of the sixth when Bella Brock picked up an RBI that brought Maire Trouba home. Both teams were held scoreless in the seventh as the game headed to extra innings. In the top of the ninth, the Blue Devils capitalized and scored the go ahead run to take a 4-3 lead into the bottom half of the inning. The Warriors would manage to load the bases, with only one out on the board, but could not drive in the tying run as they would be upset by Lawrence Tech 4-3. Karra Leeger-Capraro started the game on the mound for the Warriors, going 3.2 innings, giving up three runs, while only one was earned. She had five strikeouts in the game and gave up four hits. Carlye Walter came in to relieve Leeger-Capraro in the fourth inning. Walter threw 5.1 innings for Tech and picked up the loss despite giving up just three hits and one run. She also had five strikeouts in the game. Dippel was the leader on offense for the Warriors going three-for-four at the plate with an RBI, while Sullivan finished two-for-three with an RBI.
After losing their first game, Indiana Tech fell to the loser bracket and earned a matchup with the loser from the four vs five game, No. 5 seeded Aquinas College (Mich.), where the loser would be eliminated from the tournament. In the elimination game, freshman pitcher, Savannah Bravo threw a gem for the Warriors. She pitched a complete game, going all seven innings, and threw three strikeouts. She gave up five hits in the game and didn't surrender an earned run in the game. Aquinas would score just one run in the game on an error in the top of the fifth inning. However, this would be enough to eliminate the Warriors as the Tech bats could not get anything going offensively, registering just five hits and zero runs in the game. With the loss, the No. 1 seeded Warriors crash out of the WHAC Tournament on a day that saw multiple upsets, as No. 2 seed University of Northwestern Ohio was also eliminated on day one. This is the first time that the top two seeds have been eliminated on day one.
The Warriors will now look forward to the NAIA National Championship Tournament, set to begin May 15th, after earning an automatic bid by winning the WHAC regular season title.
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