HOWELL, Mich. - The Madonna University softball team waited over 72 hours to complete a run-rule victory over Aquinas College (Mich.) in the first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship game to force the if necessary contest. The winner-take-all game went the way of the Saints, 1-0 at Lake Trust Stadium on the campus of Cleary University on Monday afternoon.

Madonna enters the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round with a record of 30-8 while the Saints are 29-10.

The Crusaders dominated the first game, which began on Friday at Pacesetter Park in Sylvania, Ohio, as they outhit Aquinas 11-4 and won 9-1. A pair of MU errors on a stolen base in the first inning gave the Saints their lone run as Maeson Schlaud and Madisen Henry combined to allow four hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. 

Kattie Popko and Amy Clegg powered the offense as each tallied two hits. Popko drove in a pair and scored one while Clegg drove in three and scored a run. It was the latter that got MU on the board in the fourth as she singled up the middle with the bases loaded to score a pair. With two outs, Popko singled home two more with a single to right and Emily Pawelski made it 6-1 with a two-run single to right-center. 

Clegg drove in another with a shot up the middle to push the lead to six in the fifth and the Crusaders put two on with none out in the sixth before rain halted play. On Monday MU quickly ended the resumed game as Brooke Garbarino delivered a double to left center with two outs for the 9-1 win. 

In the final game of the tournament, Madonna stranded the first of five baserunners with Sarah Holton on second. In the bottom of the first, the Saints began with a pair of base hits and a delayed steal and an obstruction call brought in the first and only run. 

Madonna had its chances though as the Crusaders stranded a runner at third in the second and saw a runner thrown out at home on an infield single in the fifth. In the sixth, Holton led off with a base hit, but was stranded at second.

Holton paced the Crusaders' four-hit attack as she finished 2-for-3. Henry (10-3) took the loss as she allowed one run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts over three innings while Schlaud tossed three scoreless innings of four-hit ball with five strikeouts in relief. 

The Blue and Gold await their NAIA Opening Round assignment which will be announced on Tuesday, May 11 at 5 p.m. on the NAIA Facebook page, facebook.com/playnaia. The opening round will take place May 17-19 at 10 different campus locations across the country with the winner of each pool meeting in Columbus, Georgia for the NAIA Softball World Series May 27-June 2.

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