VERONA, Wis. – One of the most relied upon pitchers in Eagle history, Shannon Whitmus fittingly ended her career by setting the all-time school record with 108 appearances in a pair of losses, 5-1 and 8-3, to Concordia Wisconsin on Monday afternoon.
Despite dropping their final two games, the Eagles (15-21, 7-15 NACC) battled the Falcons to the very end and finished with an 11-game turnaround from last season. It was the single largest turnaround since improving 16 games from the 2003 to the 2004 season. This year's team could have come close to that, if not for four cancelled games due to weather towards the end of the season.
Sabrina Luedtke laced an RBI single in a 5-1 defeat in game one to Molly O'Connell and the Falcons.
The Eagles couldn't overcome a 5-0 deficit through the first three innings that included a Concordia Wisconsin 2-run home run in the second inning.
With bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Luedtke singled to left field to score Hanna Fisher, who had previously reached on an error. It was all they could muster and represented their best scoring opportunity as they finished the inning with a strikeout and a fielder's choice with bases loaded.
Junior Grace Delleman finished with two of the team's five hits and extended her hit streak to a team-high five games.
Eagle starter Amanda Meister allowed five runs (four earned) and six hits over 2.1 innings and gave way to Whitmus in the third inning. The senior finished out the game with 4.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Concordia Wisconsin starter Molly O'Connell (9-8) baffled the Eagle bats in a complete-game performance, allowing just five hits and one unearned run with five strikeouts. She also belted a two-run home run to help her cause.
The Eagles dug themselves an early 3-0 hole in the first inning and struggled to capitalize on early opportunities in an 8-3 game two defeat.
Both Meister and Laurissa Belott finished with three hits in the final game of the season to lead the attack. After a year off, Meister (classified athletically as a freshman) ended her season with a team-best .419 batting average that ranked seventh in the NACC and was tops among all freshmen in the conference.
The pair helped the Eagles outhit the Falcons, 9-6, but couldn't string together hits when they needed to. The Eagles stranded seven of their eight batters over the first four innings, including leaving bases loaded in the bottom of the first.
Senior Megan Hauge reached on a throwing error to load the bases with two outs. A subsequent strikeout ended the threat. Eventually, Belott smacked an RBI single to right center in the fourth inning that scored pinch runner Grace Owens to cut the Falcon lead to 3-1.
The Falcons (22-16, 12-10 NACC), who were missing the conference tournament for the first time since the 2008 season, broke open a close game with five runs in the sixth. With the wind blowing out to left center field, the scoring binge included a grand slam by catcher Shelby Fischer in her only at-bat of the day after starting in the flex position.
Delleman added an RBI single and Hauge had an RBI sacrifice fly in foul territory to round out the scoring in the bottom of the seventh.
Whitmus, who ends her career with over 400 innings to her name, was solid over the first five innings despite a rocky opening frame. Following the Falcons three-run burst, Whitmus retired nine straight batters and had allowed only three hits until Concordia Wisconsin's breakaway sixth. She finished with two strikeouts and six hits given up over 5.2 innings in her last appearance in the red and white.
Freshman Maddy Coppens hurled 1.1 scoreless relief innings to close out the season.
Senior Megan Hauge did not record a hit today, but closed her career on a roll. Prior to today's doubleheader she racked up a career-best eight-game hitting streak and hit over .300 over 18 conference games. She had a game-tying RBI single against Dominican in the bottom of the seventh last weekend and recorded a 2-run go-ahead double in the final inning two days ago in win over MSOE.
The Eagles lose Whitmus and Hauge, but return seven talented freshman and a quartet of juniors from this season as they go after their first NACC tournament berth since the 2015 season.
