HOUSTON, Texas – Despite a valiant effort, the Barry University softball team’s (44-8) dreams of capturing the 2008 Division II National Softball Title fell just short in a 14-inning marathon, 1-0 loss to the Francis Marion Patriots on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Park.
A game that featured a 54-minute weather delay and extra innings was also a pitchers’ duel for the duration. Barry’s Amber Jack and Francis Marion’s Michaela Wolf dueled it out through 13 innings of play without yielding a run.
Both pitchers worked very efficiently with Jack throwing 172 pitches and scattering seven hits in her 13.2 innings in the circle. Jack struck out eight and did not walk a batter. For Francis Marion, Wolf averaged just over 10 pitches per inning, finishing with 148 pitches thrown and nine strikeouts with just one walk. She scattered five hits to get the win.
A walk-off RBI single by Francis Marion’s Kat Beauvais in the bottom of the 14th inning scored the only run of the game as FMU eliminated Barry. Francis Marion’s Monica Wofford was hit by a pitch with one out in the 14th inning and advanced to second on a groundout by Wolf to get into scoring position. Third baseman Kat Beauvais then sent the first pitch she saw into left centerfield, scoring Wofford to end the game.
Neither team had more than one base runner in an inning until the bottom of the eighth when Francis Marion had runners in scoring position with two outs, but Jack got a sacrifice bunt, a foul-out and a popup to get out of the jam and send the duel into additional innings.
It took until the 14th inning for another rally to seriously threaten to end a game that lasted nearly four hours from start to finish.
Megan Young went 2-for-5 with a single and a double to lead the Bucs at the plate, while Francis Marion’s Shannon Tyson was 2-for-5. Beauvais recorded the game’s only RBI, which was the game winner.
Barry concludes one of the most successful seasons in school history with the fewest losses in 23 seasons. The Bucs finished the year 44-8 for a school single-season record .846 winning percentage surpassing the record 48-9 and .842 winning percentage set in 1990.
Jack finished the season with an impressive 30-3 record from the circle, while Cristina DeTagle finished her four-year stint as Barry’s all-time career hits leader with 224. The Bucs also finished the year with a school-record 35-game win streak, which ranks fifth in NCAA Division II history.
Francis Marion 1, Barry 0 (05/15/2008 at Houston, Texas)
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Barry............... 000 000 000 000 00 - 0 5 2 (44-8)
Francis Marion...... 000 000 000 000 01 - 1 7 1 (39-15)
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Pitchers: Barry - Amber Jack. Francis Marion - Michaela Wolf.
Win-Michaela Wolf(29-12) Loss-Amber Jack(30-3) T-3:45 A-403
Game: SB0515