Webster Season Ends in Regional

Webster University saw its 2021 softball season come to a close here Saturday afternoon as the fifth-seeded Gorloks fell 2-0 to third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) in an elimination round game of the NCAA Division III Waverly Regional held at Lynes Field on the Wartburg College campus.

With the shutout loss, Webster closes the 2021 season with a 21-12 overall record and went 1-2 in the NCAA Tournament, MSOE improved to 35-9 and advances to Sunday's final day of the double elimination tournament. 

"I am really proud of all my kids. You always rather lose at regionals than have been done two weeks ago, so I have no complaints and I am proud of everybody," Webster head coach Katie Griffith said in the post game press conference following the setback. 

It marked just the third time this season in 33 games that Webster had been shutout and snapped a 15 game streak of scoring at least one run in a game. The last time Webster was shutout prior to Saturday's game was against Fontbonne on April 16 as the Griffins posted an 8-0 win over the Gorloks. 

Saturday's game also marked the final games in the careers of five Webster seniors and those seniors who played their final games on Saturday were infielder Avery Boccella (Gilbert, Ariz./Trinidad State) centerfielder Abby Burroughs (Edwardsville, Ill./Triad), outfielder Breelyn Craig (Victorville, Calif./Trinidad State), infielder Alyssa McWilliams (Windsor, Colo./CSU-Pueblo) and outfielder Anna Muecke (Lueneburg, Germany/Spartanburg Methodist).

Despite not getting a hit in Saturday game and recording just one hit in eight at-bats in the NCAA Tournament, Burroughs, who is all about a shoo-in to be a future Webster Athletics Hall of Famer, finished the 2021 season hitting .423 and leading the team in at-bats (104), runs scored (25), hits (44), doubles (9), home runs (6) and RBI (33) and closes her five-year Gorlok ranked second in career RBI (122), second in walks (61), fourth in games played (159), fourth in games started (158), fourth in career at-bats (481), fourth in home runs (23), fourth in total bases (283), tied for fourth in doubles (35), fifth in runs scored (122), fifth in hits (169) and ninth in slugging percentage (.588). 
 

"We had a really talented freshman class come in this year and it has been the best year of my life when I came back and they have so much potential to keep on going next year and going to the World Series and keep climbing that ladder," said Burroughs about the future of the Webster program moving forward. 

The game against the Raiders was a pitchers duel through the first five innings between Webster freshman Reese Waggoner (Centennial, Colo./Eaglecrest) and MSOE ace Lorrin Pondo. 

Those two had combined to pitch five innings each and allow a total of seven hits and no runs and strand 11 runners. 

The Gorloks recorded the first hit in the game in the top of the first on a one-out single to left by freshman shortstop Sidney Holtz (Taylorsville, Utah/Murray). But Holtz would be stranded on first as Pondo would strike out the next two Gorlok hitters in order. 

Kara McKenna led off the bottom of the first with a single against Waggoner, but she would be retired on a double play. 

Waggoner added a single in the second, but once again, Pondo would end the inning with a strikeout. 

Craig would give Webster their third hit in the top of the third as she reached on a lead-off single to center. But once again, Pondo would retire the next three Gorloks in order as she forced Burroughs to pop up a bunt attempt for the first out and then she struck out Holtz and freshman designated Paige Thomas (Emporia, Kan./Emporia) to leave Craig stranded on second after she stole second.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, McKenna reached on a single, but Waggoner would leave her stranded as she forced Grace Salaja to ground out. 

The Gorloks would get a one-out single in the fourth by junior left fielder Taylor Jackson (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Grandin), but Pondo would prevent Jackson from moving as she struck out junior third baseman Sheyla Iniguez (Riverside, Calif./Bloomington) and Waggoner to leave Jackson on base. 

Waggoner would walk her only hitter in the bottom of the fourth as Celine Pacheco walked with two outs, but Waggoner left her on base after ending the inning by forcing Morgan Long to groundout. 

In the fifth, both teams put a runner on base, but much like the previous innings, Waggoner and Pondo would leave those runners on base. 

MSOE, who were the champions of the NACC, would finally broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the sixth as Salaja led off with a single and would score when the next hitter, Jenna Trewyn drilled a Waggoner pitch deep to the fence in left center to bring home Salaja with the first run. The ensuing hitter, Lauren Stefanczyk, would move pinch runner Reagan Jordan to third and would score the second run of the game on an RBI groundout by Pacheco. 

In the seventh, Pondo would complete her complete game shutout as she retired the Gorloks in order to end the game.

McKenna and Caitlyn Spreitzer each had two hits to pace MSOE's seven hit attack. 

Waggoner (7-3) pitched 5.2 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs, while walking one and striking out none, while senior Kirbie Mendenhall (Robinson, Ill./Parkland College) retired the only batter she faced. Waggoner closes the 2021 season with a 2.24 ERA. 

Pondo (18-2), who won both of MSOE's games on Saturday as the Raiders staved off elimination with a 3-1 win earlier on Saturday against top-seeded St. Olaf, pitched all seven innings and allowed four hits and no runs, while walking one and striking out 11.

For the game, Webster left five runners on base, while MSOE stranded six runners.

The 21 wins this season by the Gorloks were the most since the 2017 team won 28 games and posted a 28-15 record. Along with winning 21 games, the 21 wins were five more than the program had won the previous two seasons (16) combined. 

"I am really competitive and once I got this job, I started talking about regionals and everyone thought I was a little bit nuts and then at the end of that season when we only won 10 games, which was a new experience for me, I thought maybe I was a little nuts, too," the Webster coach said. "We got some new players in and got the right players in and got everyone on the bus and then last year the bus stopped abruptly. We got more people on the bus, have a great class of freshmen and we're adding more next year and we're certainly trending in the right direction very quickly and now its a matter of continuing that upward mobility for the next couple of years, but it has been a fun ride."