The Hiram Terriers’ softball team’s final stand in the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament was a short stint. The Terriers went 0-2, losing 4-3 against DePauw University and were then defeated 6-5 by Denison University to take fourth place in their final NCAC tournament last Thursday in Granville.
“It is especially tough for our seniors,” said Coach Scott Pohlman. “You want to continue on your season for them and for the team. At some point, your season is going to come to an end, you don’t necessarily want it to come to an end when you have late rallies by the other team to beat you, but it is something that we talked about all year, very few teams beat us, we beat ourselves a lot.”
In the first game of the four-team double-elimination tournament, Hiram (21-17, 9-5) and the Tigers were deadlocked in a 3-3 tie until the Tigers delivered the go-ahead hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior center fielder Ella Kuenster led off with a double down the left field line, advanced to third base, on a sacrifice bunt by junior hurler Alex Romero-Salas and scored on a sacrifice fly to freshman right fielder Ari Torres off the bat of sophomore catcher Paige Brady, pushing the Tigers ahead 4-3.
After Hiram’s offense ignited for two runs against sophomore pitcher Peyton Rohr in the first two innings, Romero-Salas stifled the Terriers’ offense by allowing only one run (unearned) on four hits while striking out one batter through five innings of relief work.
According to the seven-year coach, Romero-Salas consistently changed her pitch speed and Hiram hitters struggled to make the necessary adjustments.
“You have to make adjustments in the box, but veteran players make those adjustments,” he noted. “It takes a little learning curve.”
In the second game of the tournament, Hiram was fueled by another fast start, taking a 4-0 advantage through the first three innings but Denison rallied for a five runs in the top of the seventh inning to take their first lead of the game.
After two of the first three batters reached base to put runners on first and second, sophomore right fielder Emily Orsini loaded the bases on a single to right field. After 6.1 innings of work, Pohlman lifted freshman pitcher Lillie Greene for senior Darian Kanno, but the Terriers were plagued by defensive miscues.
When Kanno fielded a ground ball of the bat off of junior center fielder Brianna Gonzalez, she attempted to throw out senior first baseman Jacqui Abogado at home plate, but her throw was too late, trimming the Terrier’s lead to 4-2.
Denison capitalized on another Hiram error when senior shortstop Fayth Kawamura committed a throwing error to second base, on a ground ball from freshman third baseman Carley Melton and the Big Red scored three runs to take a 5-4 lead. Junior second baseman Indy Workman delivered a RBI-single into right field, pushing Denison’s lead to 6-4.
“It hurt a lot because it could have extended our season by another day and we were in control of it through six innings and up until the seventh,” Pohlman acknowledged. “It was just a couple of fundamental mistakes and plays that we did not execute.”
Hiram rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning, as five of the first six batters recorded a base hit, including a RBI-single to third base by sophomore left fielder Haven Papineau, cutting Denison’s lead to 6-5.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Torres smoked a line drive but senior first baseman Jacqui Abogado made a diving catch, robbing her of a potential game-winning hit, and ending Hiram’s season.
Despite the Terriers’ final appearance in the NCAC tournament ending quickly, Pohlman praised the resiliency of his squad, which had very little experience, to record another winning record in conference play and ultimately tally its fifth consecutive season of 20-plus victories.
“Now we have a group of players that saw a lot of time in the field, so they are almost considered a veteran group now because of the tough schedule we faced,” he added.
Pohlman also noted that the experience the team gained this year should serve it well when it begins play in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference next year.
“I think we are going to miss the NCAC not only for softball but for all of our teams,” Pohlman said. “At the end of the day, the PAC is a good conference. I think the PAC is a tough conference and we are looking forward to being competitive.”
