Softball Finishes Third in NCCAA Regionals  (4/22/06)
Despite an upset victory in the first round the place, the softball team finished third place in the NCCAA North Central Region Tournament. The Trolls were the No. 3 seed coming into the four-team double elimination tournament. In their first game they upset No. 2 Bethel College (IN), 9-8, and then fell, 6-1, to top seeded Olivet Nazarene University (IL). On the second day of competition the Trolls' tournament run ended with a 9-7 loss to Greenville College (IL). The team is now 16-27 for the season. 

In the Bethel game Amber Heaney came up big for the team. In the second inning she hit a three-run homer to help the Trolls to a 4-1 start. However the Trolls' bats did not hold and at the end of six innings they were trailing 8-6. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs Gail Landini singled to get on base. Vicki Fennema brought the run home with a double. Then Heaney launched a two-run walk-off homer to win the game. 

The Trolls got on the board in the first inning of the Olivet Nazarene game on a double by Laura Arendsen. However they gave up one in the bottom of the inning to tie things up. Olivet put five more on the board in the second inning and that was all that was needed to hand the Trolls the 6-1 loss. 

The Greenville game started with a 6-0 deficit after two innings. The Trolls put a dent in that lead in the third on a three-run homer by Sarah Lerner. However they gave up two more in the fourth inning to fall behind 8-3. Landini helped the cause in the sixth inning with a two-run home run. Hits by Allison Vanderwerff, Stacey Wagner, and Arendsen produced one more. Greenville came back with one run in the bottom to make it 9-6. Landini's fourth hit of the game in the top of the seventh inning produced one more, but the Trolls came up short of keeping the game alive.

The team's next contest is a home doubleheader against the University of St. Francis (IL) on Monday, April 24, at 3:00 pm. 
 

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