The St. Thomas softball team faced off in a rematch against Gustavus Sunday with the MIAC postseason title on the line. After being shut out by the Gusties on Saturday, St. Thomas was determined to show the earlier game was a fluke.

They did just that by striking the iron early, scoring in the top of the first inning when center fielder Bianca Peterson drove in third baseman McKenzie Wergin on a sacrifice fly.

“We have seen them a couple times this year and for whatever reason, yesterday wasn’t clicking with us, so when we came out today we know what they have and what they’re going to throw and what stuff looks like,” Wergin said. “You need to have a plan and stick to that plan and execute it, and yesterday we obviously didn’t do that as well as we did today.”

That lead would not last long, however. The Gusties answered immediately, scoring one run in the bottom of the first, then adding another in the third. Both RBIs came off the bat of Gustavus first baseman and clean-up hitter, Kalley Morgan.

Apart from those few runs, the pitching duel of Morgan Murphy of St. Thomas and Hannah Heacox for Gustavus remained fierce. The score stayed 2-1 in favor of the Gusties, going into the Tommies’ final at-bats.

Then the drama of postseason softball was in full force.

Wergin added one more of her three hits on the day, scoring pinch-runner Danielle Wigen to tie the game at two. The rally continued as shortstop Meg DuPuis and left fielder Katie Jo Delisle found their way on base, leaving the bases loaded for right fielder Annie Boyer. Boyer ripped a ball past the shortstop, driving in the go-ahead run.

The Gusties got their final chance in the bottom of the seventh and made it count. A single followed by back-to-back doubles saw the Gusties plate two in the inning as well, giving them a walk-off 4-3 win.

“It was a battle and it was a fight and you just have to give it all you’ve got and see where it takes you, and just go toe to toe with a great team,” pitcher Kendra Bowe said of the dramatic championship game.

Despite failing to claim any MIAC titles this season, the Tommies believe in the magic of this season.

“This year I thought we played to our expectations to some degree, but then I thought we overplayed,” coach John Tschida said. “We had some huge turnaround seasons by several players; they weren’t even close to where they are now. It’s very rewarding. Whether we won or not, it was a very rewarding year for so many people.”

While a MIAC title would have been a major accomplishment for the Tommies, the team’s season will continue after receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Division-III National Tournament. St. Thomas will face Linfield College (Oregon) May 8 to begin their quest fora national championship.

Saturday’s game

The St. Thomas softball team would not have gotten a chance to play for the MIAC title without impressive performances earlier in the tournament.

The Tommies only managed one hit and were shut out 6-0 by Gustavus on Saturday, before they got their bats going and shut out Bethel for the second time in as many days, 5-0.

Tschida said the key difference between the two games was “pitchers executing pitches.”

“The first game they executed pitches and our pitchers didn’t, so the difference was the hits,” Tschida said. “In (the second game) we executed more than they did. These last three teams are all good hitting teams, so it’s just a matter of hitting your spots.”

Bowe started on the mound for the Tommies against Gustavus but didn’t make it out of the first inning after allowing two quick runs. Delisle replaced Bowe, but also got into some trouble early, needing a diving catch from DuPuis to get out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning.

Gustavus pitcher Sarah Rozell, on the other hand, got ground ball after ground ball out of the Tommie bats. Rozell threw a complete game, only allowing one hit, a single from Delisle in the fifth inning.

“(Rozell) was doing really well at hitting her spots. She had control of the game in that sense,” Delisle said. “We needed to take more control, but she was doing really well at hitting her spots and we weren’t adjusting.”

But going into the second game of the day, an elimination game matchup with first-seeded Bethel, St. Thomas did adjust.

Stifled in the first game, the St. Thomas bats came alive against Bethel, scoring three quick runs in a first-inning rally.

The quick start was just what Tschida wanted to see.

“The second game we still played aggressive,” Tschida said. “That’s what you like to look at. You lose and you can bounce back and have a good day.”

Pitchers Breezy Bannon, Bowe, and Delisle rotated on and off of the mound to shut down the Royals’ daunted offense.

Each of the three pitchers went close to one-third of the game, rotating in and out as Tschida saw fit. A strategy he says was all about the matchups.

“We have a good mixture of different types of pitchers. Kids that throw hard, kids that don’t throw hard, kids that have curveballs, a little screwball, kids that have bigger screwballs, another one is a lefty, so its really it’s a matter of matchups in regards to the hitter’s swing,” Tschida explained. “It doesn’t always work out, but actually this year it has worked out almost all the time, and they’re pretty used to bouncing in and out.”

The pitchers were given even more cushion to operate late in the game when the power bats showed up. DuPuis crushed a solo homerun to left-center in the fifth inning, and catcher Micaela Trainor showcased her power in the sixth, cementing the win with a long ball of her own.

“This teams takes losing or failing or defeat well. We all bounce back, and it more or less fuels us when we get shut down like that,” Delisle said.

Scott Sikich can be reached at siki3549@stthomas.edu.