COLUMBUS, Ga. - The sixth-seeded Madonna University softball team finished the 2021 season as one of the six best teams in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) after a 5-4 loss to Bethany College (Kan.) in the consolation bracket of the NAIA Softball World Series on Monday afternoon. 

The Crusaders saw the single-season record books re-written thanks to incredible seasons by Kattie Popko and Maeson Schlaud. Popko set records for batting average (.465), slugging percentage (.789), and on-base percentage (.528), is tied for third in doubles (18) and home runs (8), eighth in hits (66) and 10th in RBI (42). Schlaud was stellar in the circle and finished with a 1.24 ERA, the second lowest in a single-season with a minimum of 40 innings pitched, but is the lowest of anyone with at least 100 innings as she tossed 102 innings and struck out 122. Her .214 opponent batting average is ninth-best.

The Swedes scored first in the game on an obstruction call after Veronica Pezzoni threw a laser to home plate to catch the runner trying to score. Madonna got the run back in the second as Alyssa Fessenden led off with a walk and Brooklyn Dolloff beat the shift with a two-run, inside-the-park home run for the 2-1 lead. 
 

Bethany took a three-run lead in the third with a leadoff home run and a pair of unearned runs. The Blue and Gold chipped away in the fifth as Veronica Pezzoni singled, Sarah Holton doubled and Fessenden laid down a suicide squeeze bunt to plate Pezzoni. Madonna tied the game in the sixth as Amy Clegg singled with two outs, stole second and scored on a Pezzoni double to left center. 

Clegg started the seventh with a stellar defensive play, but a two-out single by the Swedes proved the difference in the game. 
 

The Crusaders tallied eight hits to the Swedes nine, led by Pezzoni and Holton who each finished 2-for-4 with the former scoring once and driving in one. Four other Crusaders had a hit while Fessenden scored and drove in a run despite not having a hit. Dolloff drove in two and scored once while Clegg had a hit and scored. 

Madisen Henry allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings while Schlaud finished the season 12-4 as she took the loss in relief with one run allowed on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 4.2 innings. 
 

The Crusaders finished with the top batting average (347, 34-for-98), slugging percentage (.429), and hits (34) in the series, are second in runs scored (18) and had the fourth-best ERA at 1.91. 

The loss ends the careers for 11 seniors: Ashley Olweean, Rebecca Barnes, Alyssa Fessenden, Robin Sprys, Haley Overholtz, Madisen Henry, Hannah Kutsch, Ciera Jones, Selena Deault, Makayla Bassage, and Brooklyn Dolloff. 
 

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