The Gustavus softball team entered the tournament as the #4 seed and faced the MIAC regular season champions St. Thomas. This is the first ever MIAC Post-season softball tournament and the winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The tournament is a double-elimination event with the winner of the consolation bracket having to defeat the winner of the championship bracket twice in order to claim the tournament title.
Audrey Lenoch hit her eighth homerun of the season to put the Gusties up 1-0 after one inning of play. St. Thomas responded with two runs in the third inning to take a 2-1 lead. In the fifth inning, Nikki Conway hit a two-run homerun to give the Tommies a 4-1 lead. In the sixth inning, Ann Syverson scored on a wild pitch to pull the Gusties within two. Janet Nagle retired three straight batters in the seventh inning to pick up the win for St. Thomas. Medved was given the loss on the mound for Gustavus.
The Gusties faced #3 seed Hamline University in game 4 of the conference tournament. Hamline lost to St. Ben’s 4-1 in their first round game. The winner of this game would stay alive and play the loser of St. Ben’s and St. Thomas on Saturday at 11am
The Pipers put four runs on the board in the first two innings of play and the Gusties responded with four runs of the their own in the third inning. The game went to extra innings and the Pipers loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning. Julia Rossini was walked, which brought the winning run to home plate.