DC Wins HCAC Tournment with 13-Inning Thriller

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Defiance won its second HCAC Tournament title in school history, using six-run 13th inning to pull out an 11-5 victory over Mount St. Joseph on Saturday, May 3. The Jackets have won either the HCAC regular season title or the HCAC Tournament title in three of the last four seasons.

Laurel Palk started off the scoring spree in the 13th inning with a single up the middle to plate Justine Johnston, giving a DC a 6-5 advantage. After a Marah Robinson walk, Mallory Faling hit a three-run jack to left center to push the Jacket lead to four, 9-5. Defiance was not done yet as Kayla Crager and Aarika Davis followed up Faling’s homerun with back-to-back hits, before scoring on a fielding error by the shortstop to give DC an 11-5 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning.

Justine Johnston (16-6) sat the Lions down in order in the bottom of the 13th to earn the victory and give DC

its first HCAC tournament title since 2005. The junior pitched all 13 innings, 28 total during the two-day event, giving up three earned runs on 12 hits with six strikeouts.

The Jackets broke a scoreless tie in the second inning, when Stephanie Lieto scored on a wild pitch to put DC up 1-0. Mount St. Joseph tied the game in the bottom half of the inning as Casey Waldman drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Ashleigh Stallkamp.

Defiance put runners in scoring position in each of the next three innings, but was unable to put another run on the board until the sixth inning. The Jackets were able to grab a 2-1 advantage in the sixth as Lieto scored her second run of the day on a fielding error by the second baseman.

Stallkamp’s two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth gave the Mount its first lead of the game, 3-2, but the lead would prove to be short lived. Robinson helped DC draw even with a solo shot to left center to tie the game, 3-3, her fourth hit of the day.

Cara Hughes drove in her fourth run of the tournament in the tenth, scoring Michelle Schwab with a single to left field as Defiance went up 4-3. MSJ was able to tie the game in home half as Randi Yaeger drove in Kristina Dennett. Faling scored in the 12th to give DC another one-run lead, scoring on Davis’ single down the left field line. Katie Cammerer’s RBI single in the bottom half sent the game into the 13th inning, setting up the Jacket’s six-run explosion.

Defiance recorded season-highs in hits (16) and runs (11) in the game. Robinson reached base six times, tallying four hits and two walks. Davis also had four hits for DC, while Palk had her fifth three-hit game of the season. Faling leads the team with 29 RBI, after driving in three runs today on her homerun in the final inning.

Defiance (22-16) advances to the Div. III NCAA Regional Tournament for the third time in school history with the victory and will face an opponent that will be named later this week.