Weather delay slowed the Bees' momentum in CCAC Championship
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (IA) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
|
#18 Saint Xavier (IL) | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | X | 13 | 17 | 0 |
On Sunday, the Bees advanced to the CCAC Championship game to take on Saint Xavier for the second time over the weekend. The game was suspended in the top of the second inning due to weather and was set to restart on Monday at noon. At the time of the suspension, the teams were tied at 3-3.
St. Ambrose took an early lead, scoring two runs in the first inning. Mady Reed led off the game with a single out to center field. She made her way around the bases on a sacrifice bunt from Mya Millsaps, a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly ball to left field off the bat of Becca Haag. Next up at the plate was Kylee Claypool, who drove the ball out to right field for a triple, which pushed Ellie Downing across home plate. The Cougars responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first
In the following inning, Kylie Schult reached first on a fielder's choice. Millsaps sent the ball out to center field, which was enough to drive Schult in and advance Reed to second. The Cougars were able to get out of the inning, only allowing the Bees one run, and keep the score tied. Then, during the switch, the rain started coming down, which led to a delay and eventually the suspension of the game for the remainder of the day.
Play was resumed Monday afternoon, where the Cougars scored 10 unanswered runs in the remaining 3.5 innings to secure their fifth consecutive championship in five innings of play.
Allyson Harrold pitched 2.2 innings and struck out two batters. Leah Maro came in for relief, pitching 1.1 innings and recording one strikeout.
The Bees finish the season with a 28-20 overall record and an 11-5 record in conference play.