ITHACA, N.Y. --- The No. 17 and second seeded Moravian College softball team saw its 2016 season come to a close with a 3-2, nine-inning loss to top seed, host and No. 16 Ithaca College in the championship round of the 2016 NCAA Division III Ithaca, New York Regional Sunday on a day that felt more like March 15 with game time temperatures in the low 40s and light snow flurries in the air.
The Greyhounds end the year with a 37-6 mark with the program in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the 16th time under 23-year Head Coach John Byrne, who is 750-227 in his career. Sunday marked the seventh time in the 16 NCAA trips that the Moravian has played in the regional final with the program advancing to the Division III World Series in 2004, 2007 and 2010 and the Super Regionals last spring.
"At certain times, this ending is going to happen to a lot of good teams but it still hurts when it happens," stated Byrne. "We gave a good effort and took them to nine innings. We just made too many errors, which you can't do against good teams and expect to come out on the top end. We fought, came back and took a lead. We gave them everything that we had. I'm proud of the players. We had a great year because in the bigger picture we won a conference championship and 37 games, and that's not too shabby. It was a good year, and we accomplished a number of our goals, and now it is on to next year with 18 of 19 players back."
Moravian had three players - senior right fielder Mary Schlosbon, junior left fielder Julie Siragusa and sophomore pitcher Josie Novak named the All-Tournament Team.
"We had a number of players that came up big including the grand slam by Julie yesterday, the pitching by Josie today and Mary's defensive and offensive play throughout the tournament," Byrne said. "It is nice recognition for them but we would have like to see the team finish better and I think they would all say that. They all played well the whole weekend, and it is well deserved."
The Hounds, who would have needed two victories on Sunday to advance, had seven hits in the contest with freshman center fielder Kat Spilman going 2-for-3 and junior designated player Victoria Conner posting a 2-for-4 game at the plate to go with a pair of RBIs.
Novak tossed 8.1 innings with three runs, only one earned, on nine hits and three walks to go four strikeouts. Novak finished the season with a 19-4 mark in the circle and 165 strikeouts, the sixth best season in school history.
Moravian went down in order in the top of the first, and Ithaca would leave the bases loaded in the Bombers' first plate appearance of the day. The Greyhounds also put three runners on base in the top of the second inning but were unable to score. Ithaca then capitalized on an error by the Greyhounds to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the second.
The Blue and Grey forced the Bombers to leave two more runners on base in the home half of the third inning. The Hounds then tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. Spilman drew a walk to start the frame and moved into scoring position on a ground out by Siragusa. After another out, Conner delivered an RBI single on a bouncing ball right over third base and down the left field line to score Spilman.
Moravian forced Ithaca to leave another two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth, and the Greyhounds would take a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth frame. Spilman led off the inning with a double off of the fence in left field, and freshman Ashley Gindle came in to pinch run. After two outs, Conner ripped an RBI single up the middle with Gindle crashing into the catcher and scoring the go ahead run.
The Hounds put a pair of runners on base with two outs in the top of the seventh when freshman shortstop Kaela Kane was hit by a pitch and freshman third baseman Madison Shaneberger singled up the middle. However, Moravian was unable to score an insurance run. Ithaca would capitalize on another Moravian error in the bottom of the seventh to tie the contest at 2-2 and force extra innings.
The Bombers scored the winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to advance to next weekend's NCAA Division III Super Regionals. Schlosbon is the only Greyhound not slated to return to Moravian next fall after completing her four seasons with 153 career hits, tied for 13th in school history.
"Mary was outstanding as a defensive player, and she goes down as one of the best defensive outfielders we've had. She had a lot of hits offensively, and she is a three-time All-Conference player. She is going to be tough to replace because of her work ethic and the type of person that she is both on and off the field. We wish her the best and it has been a pleasure coaching her," finished Byrne.
