MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Wittenberg Tigers ended the 2007 regular season with plenty of momentum, finishing with 10 wins in their last 11 games, including a sweep of North Coast Athletic Conference rival Allegheny in Sunday's season finale.
The wins, by scores of 8-5 and 4-0, were Wittenberg's seventh and eighth in a row in the NCAC. The Tigers, sporting records of 27-11 overall and 11-3 in the NCAC, will head to regular season champion Denison next weekend as the No. 2 seed in the NCAC Tournament.
Sunday's games were delayed a day due to poor field conditions in Meadville, but the wait and the long overnight road trip didn't affect the Tigers. They pounded out 12 hits in the opener in support of a deceivingly solid performance from freshman pitcher Brooke Boswell (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield).
Boswell picked up her sixth win of the season with a complete-game performance. She scattered eight hits and allowed five runs, just three of which were earned. Both teams committed four errors in the game.
Offensively, the Tigers picked up four runs in the first two innings and put the game out of reach with four more in the fourth. Freshman Cameron Catalfu (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) led with three hits, two runs scored and three runs batted in, while junior Sarah Fetters (Maumee, Ohio/Maumee) scored twice, senior Stephanie Zorn (Grapevine, Texas/Colleyville) drove in a pair with two hits and junior Nicole Ottavi (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) added three hits.
The nightcap was yet another masterpiece from sophomore pitcher Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton), who allowed just three hits in a complete-game shutout. Hatcher has 15 wins - one more than her total of a year ago - and leads the NCAC in several pitching categories, including innings, complete games and strikeouts.
The Tiger offense didn't do too much, but it was enough. Fetters collected three hits and scored twice, while junior Amy Myser (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) added two RBI. Catalfu and Zorn drove in the other two runs.