by HATTIESBURG, Mississippi – In their first national tournament trip in nearly a decade, the No. 9 Drovers fell short in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round to close out one of the school’s best seasons.
Playing an elimination game against host William Carey (39-17), the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (43-9) couldn’t get their offense going and dropped 3-0 to the Crusaders.
In the end, the Drovers had one of the best records in school history with the third most wins and the school’s fewest losses in history.
“No one can take away the season we had with 43 wins and a Sooner Athletic Conference Championship. We came out of nowhere to be ninth in the country,” said USAO Head Softball Coach Jadyn Wallis. “Everybody better watch out because we are going to be locked and loaded next year.”
It was USAO’s fourth trip to nationals and the first since 2006.
“My seniors have been my backbone for this team. They never once developed senioritious and wanted to quit. They kept the team going all season,” Wallis said. “I can’t thank them enough for establishing the powerhouse that USAO softball in going to be in the coming years.”
In Wednesday’s game, the Crusaders came out in the first inning looking strong. All three of the first batters ended up on base, but Summer Leitka and the Drovers got out of the mess without giving up a run.
WCU found runners on base several times throughout the next few innings, but the Drovers kept shutting them down before the Crusaders had a chance to score.
A single to shallow right center by WCU’s Hannah Cook-Kelley in the fourth ended the shutout as two runs crossed the plate.
The Crusaders added an insurance run in the sixth to take the game out of reach for USAO.
Leitka (31-5) threw six strikeouts in four innings for a total of 321 on the season. She enters the USAO record books with the most strikeouts and wins, second in batting average against and fourth in ERA.
Jaci Booker took over for Leitka in the circle in the fifth inning and threw the remaining two innings, striking out two batters in relief.
Wednesday was the only time all season the Drovers, who ended up with only nine losses on the year, were shutout.
Thanks for the article about our grandaughter Summer Leitka, the family here in Alaska is proud of her accomplishments.