GRANVILLE, Ohio - A once-promising 2007 season came a sudden end on the first day of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament, hosted by regular season champion Denison. The Tigers, seeded No. 2 after going 11-3 in the NCAC regular season, were stopped in the opener by No. 3 seed Allegheny 5-3 in eight innings, and then fourth-seeded Hiram upended Wittenberg 5-1 in the last game of the day.
Wittenberg ended its season with a 27-13 overall record, while Allegheny went on to add an upset of Denison to move to 17-16 overall and into the driver's seat in the two-day competition. Hiram, which opened with a 7-6 eight-inning defeat against the Big Red, is now 22-13 overall and will face Denison again Saturday morning in an elimination game.
Against Allegheny, the Tigers took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning behind the customarily strong performance of sophomore pitcher Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton). However, the Gators pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the inning on an RBI hit and an error on the same play to tie the game. Then in the eighth, the Gators pushed two more runs across as they strung three hits together, along with another Tiger error.
Sophomore Julie Ziegler (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins) led the Wittenberg offense with two hits and a run scored, while three different players drove in runs in the game.
Hiram jumped on the Tigers right away as three runs scored in the first inning. That was all the Terriers would need, although they did score two insurance runs in the fifth inning before Hatcher tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
The Tiger offense was quieted in this one, although Wittenberg did have some scoring opportunities. Freshman Cameron Catalfu (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) had two of the team's four hits, but the Tigers stranded seven runners in the game.