MONTGOMERY, Ill. – Dominican University's Lily Santoyo pushed a sacrifice bunt through a drawn-in infield to send in the winning run in the 10th inning and Lakeland University saw a memorable tourney run end with a 3-2 loss in the final game of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Softball Tournament hosted by Aurora University.
The No. 2-seeded Muskies defeated the top seed Stars 5-2 earlier in the day to set up the final winner-take-all championship game in the double-elimination tournament. In the fifth game between the teams this season and the third in this tournament alone, Dominican outlasted Lakeland in a marathon final game and clinched the NACC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Muskies may well have seen one of the greatest seasons in program history end with a school-record 35 wins and a 35-10 record, though Lakeland will keep hopes for consideration for a possible Pool C (at-large) berth to the 64-team tourney when the field is announced Monday at 10 a.m.
The Muskies and Dominican (38-6 overall) proved to be near-equals through their meetings this season, with a combined two-run differential between the teams in their five games and 38 innings in all. With the win earlier in the day, Lakeland picked up its second win over a Stars team ranked 23rd in the latest AFCA NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll last week, and as Sunday's second game went on it appeared the two teams could've played all week long with little difference between them.
After the Muskies tied the final game at 2-2 with a single run in the fourth inning, Lakeland and Dominican both put up one zero after another on the board as suspense built and the game approached the latter innings of regulation and beyond. Both teams had opportunities, but Lakeland pitcher Madi Johnson (Sr.-Vernon Hills, Ill.) matched Dominican's Emma Woodhouse and later Stars ace Kayla Faber-Cournane in keeping the threats at bay.
The Stars put at least one runner on in every inning from the fourth through ninth, but the Muskies had perhaps the best chances to get a leg up late. That included the 10th inning, when Hannah Nelson (Sr.-Loves Park, Ill.) led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice by Johnson for the first out, but Faber-Cournane got a line out to center and then a pop-up to end the inning.
Dominican's winning rally started with Kailee Diaz Randall leading off the bottom of the 10th with a ground-rule double. Santoyo then followed with a bunt attempting to sacrifice, but with the infield playing in the ball went through and Diaz Randall came in to score, with Santoyo credited with a double on the final play.
The early innings saw the teams trade runs in the first inning, with Lakeland scoring first when Nelson led off the game with a single, went to second on an error and then moved to third on a single by Juliana Hall (Sr.-Portage, Ind.). Hall then went halfway to second base, and eventually Nelson broke for home and appeared to be out, but was ruled safe due to catcher obstruction.
Dominican answered with a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI double by Woodhouse, and took the lead in the third when Kennedy Marvin led off with a single and later scored on a single by Faber-Cournane. The Muskies tied it right back up in the fourth, though, when Peyton Harlow (So.-La Porte, Ind.) walked and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Meyer (So.-Crown Point, Ind.).
Johnson pitched all the way, going nine-plus innings and allowing 12 hits and three runs with a strikeout. Nelson went 3-for-5 in her final game and Johnson and Maddie Raske (Fr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) added two hits each.
Lakeland got the day off to a good start, leading wire-to-wire in the first game to force another matchup with the Stars.
The Muskies scored twice in the first inning, including four consecutive hits after two were out to quickly knock starting pitcher Faber-Cournane out of the game. Harlow and Jordan August (Jr.-Schererville, Ind.) both delivered RBI singles to make it 2-0, and Lakeland added more with a run in the third and two more in the fourth.
Raske singled in to score Johnson to make it 3-0, and Nelson doubled in a run in the fourth. Hall later followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0, a margin that was plenty for Skylar Hall (Sr.-Negaunee, Mich.), who pitched a complete game and allowed six hits and two runs, both unearned in the sixth inning.
Juliana Hall, Johnson, Meyer and Raske all had two hits each in the first game as Lakeland outhit Dominican 12-6. The Muskies won by a nearly identical score to the teams' first game in the tourney a day earlier, when the Stars prevailed 5-1 to hand Lakeland its first loss of the tournament.
The NACC also announced an 11-player all-tournament team at the conclusion of the event. Harlow, Juliana Hall and Carlie Morrow (So.-Menasha, Wis.) all were named to the team for Lakeland, while Dominican's Faber-Cournane was named the tournament MVP.
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