DWU softball sets program wins record but goes 1-1 on first day at GPAC tourney

Apr. 30—ORANGE CITY, Iowa. — The Dakota Wesleyan University softball team won its first conference tournament game in eight years on Wednesday but they're not in the driver's seat in their Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament pod bracket.

The Tigers defeated Concordia 6-1 in its tournament opener but then fell to eighth-seeded Doane 11-3 in six innings, as the orange-clad Tigers improved to 19-24 on the season and stunned their way to Thursday's championship round at the Northwestern College softball complex.

DWU (34-15), playing in the GPAC tournament for the first time since 2019, won its first postseason game since May 5, 2017. The win over the Bulldogs also sets a new DWU record for wins in a season, snapping the record of 33 in 2016. (Since joining the GPAC in 2000, it is DWU's third winning season in softball.)

In DWU's opener against Concordia, DWU blew the game open with a four-run third inning and outhit the Bulldogs 7-4. Sophie Wietzema drove in a pair of runs for the Tigers, Jaden Warner had two hits and Elle Feser had a pinch-hit solo home run in the fifth inning for DWU.

That was plenty of offensive support for Alison Ernsberger, who earned the victory with four hits and one run allowed to go with six strikeouts in seven innings of work. The 98-pitch effort was Ernsberger's 20th win of the season in the pitching circle — a DWU record.

In the second game, Doane broke to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and 5-0 after 1 1/2 innings before DWU answered with three runs in the bottom of the second. But Doane hit three home runs in the game, including two from Bri True and outslugged DWU 13-6 in hits. Doane chased DWU starting pitcher Keirstyn Krcil, with one inning pitched, five hits, five runs and a home run allowed. Ivy Woolwine threw 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs before Ernsberger returned for an inning of work but yielded a pair of runs.

At the plate, DWU had two doubles and an RBI from Macy Moore and Alessandra Ciurca had two of DWU's six hits. Ciurca and Kassidy Lopez each had RBIs for DWU.

In the pod opener, eighth-seeded Doane upset No. 1 Northwestern 1-0, sending the nation's 10th-ranked team to the elimination bracket. Faith Molina pitched a five-hit shutout for the Tigers, who scratched out the winning run in the sixth inning with an RBI double. Molina also closed the DWU game in the pitching circle, as well.

The Bulldogs (27-18) play Northwestern in an elimination game on Wednesday night to bring the bracket down to three teams before Thursday's action. DWU will face the Concordia/Northwestern winner at noon Thursday in an elimination game. An if-necessary title game is at 4 p.m. Thursday.

The Orange City bracket winner and the Midland bracket winner will play a best-of-three series on Saturday, May 3 for the GPAC softball tournament title at the highest remaining seed.