No. 6 Valparaiso Completes Upset Run and Claims #HLSB Title

No. 6 Valparaiso completed its upset run to capture the Horizon League Softball Tournament crown Saturday afternoon against No. 2 Wright State, 5-4. It took an extra inning and a seventh inning rally for the Crusaders to claim the title behind solid pitching the Weissenhofer and hitting heroics from Stewart at the plate.

Wright State got off to a three-run lead in the fifth inning after Floyd hit a 2-run home run to center field that just cleared the wall. Susor followed Floyd’s at-bat with a home run of her own to notch the back-to-back fence clearing shots and give the Raiders a 3-0 lead.

Wright State tacked on another run in the top of the seventh when Mayle joined the home run club and knocked one over the wall to make the Raiders’ lead 4-0.

Valparaiso entered the seventh inning down four runs and immediately got into rally formation putting two runners on with no outs. Calombaris scored off of a Callaghan RBI and Trepanier brought her in with a single to make the game 4-2. With two outs, runners at second and third, Stewart hit a shot to the outfield to bring in the game-tying RBIs and extend the game to extra innings.

The Crusaders held off a scoring threat from Wright State in the top of the eighth inning and managed to manufacture base-runners in the bottom. With Nadler on first, Moreno hit a walk-off championship title winner to right field.

Peterson led Wright State with two hits despite all four runs resulting from home runs in the contest. Sharp collected the loss in the circle but pitched a complete game with six strikeouts.

Five batters notched two hits for Valparaiso on the day while Stewart posted a team-high two RBIs.

Weissenhofer pitched a solid 7.1 innings for the Crusaders but Montgomery was awarded the win with her .2 innings of work effort.

All-Tournament Team
Maria Lacatena, Youngstown State
Miranda Castiglione, Youngstown State
Susan Knight, Cleveland State
Elaine Heflin, UIC
Libby Pfeffer, Wright State
Macey Gunther, Wright State
Vivi Marquez, Wright State
Ashley Sharp, Wright State
Lanie Callaghan, Valparaiso
Carly Trepanier, Valparaiso
Sam Stewart, Valparaiso
Taylor Weissenhofer, Valparaiso

Defensive Player: Susan Knight, Cleveland State
Batting Champion: Lanie Callaghan, Valparaiso
Pitching Award: Taylor Weissenhofer, Valparaiso
Tournament MVP: Sam Stewart, Valparaiso