Pioneers Lose in Heartbreaking Fashion

Columbus, OH – It's an age old question: Would you rather have something special and then lose it, or never have it all?

The Delta softball team got a taste of both on Wednesday in the second round of the Region XII District J tournament as they knocked off higher seeded Oakland, 4-2.  With a 3-1 lead heading in to the seventh and final inning against second seeded Cuyahoga, the Ladies of Delta appeared to make more than a splash in the post-season.

With one swing of the bat, the Challengers of Cuyahoga finished off Delta in heartbreaking fashion as a 3-1 lead became a 3-3 tie before a 3-run walkoff blast became a 6-3 Cuyahoga win to drop Delta into the loser's bracket of the tournament.

"We had them beat," said starting pitcher Jensen Tchorzynski. "We were excited after beating Oakland and had the momentum for the game.  We just made a few vital mistakes and couldn't clinch it in the bottom of the seventh."

Delta got on the board in the top of the first as sophomore Alyssa Westphal laced a one-out double to left-center and scored on a Katlyn Blake single to make it 1-0.  Cuyahoga tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third on a pair of walks and a passed ball.

DC took the lead in the sixth inning when Shelby Bailey walked and went to second on a wild pitch.  A sacrifice bunt moved her to third before Blake reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners with one out. Jensen Tchorzynski would help her cause on the mound with a single to center field that scored Bailey to make it 2-1 in favor of the Pioneers.

 After a wild pitch moved runners to second and third, Bryanna Collins lifted a sacrifice fly to score Blake and make it 3-1 heading in to the bottom of the final inning.

Cuyahoga led off the bottom of the final inning by reaching on an error before a fielder's choice erased the runner and a fly ball to center made it two outs with a runner at first base.  A throwing error allowed the runner from first to advance to third and when another throwing error allowed the batter to reach, the score was 3-2 still in favor of Delta.

A single put runners at first and second with two outs before another single tied the game at 3-3.  That's when real disaster struck for the Pioneers as the next batter cleared the center field fence for a three run homerun and walk off win. 

"We have more confidence this year," said Westphal.  "We expect to win these games.  That's why it hurts so much."

"We want to win tomorrow so we can play them again," said losing pitcher Jensen Tchorzynski.  "We're better than we showed."  Despite taking the loss to bring her season record to 15-7 on the year, Tchorzynski allowed zero earned runs on eight hits while striking out two and walking four.

Offensively, Delta was led by Alyssa Westphal with two hits and a run. 

The Pioneers will next play tomorrow against Macomb Community College, a team in which they dropped three-of-four to in the regular season.

"We played everyone in our league tight this year," said Westphal.  "Today already earned us a better reputation for our program and I think regardless of what happens tomorrow it will grow in the coming years."