HASTINGS, Neb. -- The Dakota Wesleyan University softball team's season ended on the first day of the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament Thursday in Hastings, Neb.
The Tigers entered the GPAC tournament as the No. 4 seed and dropped its opening-round game 4-0 to Morningside before bowing out with a 5-3 loss to Hastings.
"We're pretty disappointed," head coach Ed Kieff said. "We had pretty high hopes."
Brandi Nekrassoff took the loss in game one, allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks. The Tigers managed to get two hits in the opener.
Roni Nekrassoff pitched for the Tigers in game two. She allowed five runs on 10 hits and struck out one. Hastings took a 5-0 lead into the last inning before Dakota Wesleyan scored their first runs of the tournament.
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"To come out flat like we did and not be able to put any runs up until the last inning of the second game was tough," Kieff said.
Dakota Wesleyan ended its season with a 17-30 record. The 17 wins ties a program-best mark set in 2007, the last year the team had qualified for the GPAC tournament.
"I'm proud of the way the team worked all year," Kieff said. "I think we're going to expect good things from this program in the future."
The team is losing five seniors due to graduation, but Kieff said his recruiting class is up to 11 and will expect to return to the GPAC tournament next season.
"We'll start off with a few more players next year to work with and that'll be a big plus," Kieff said. "Looking back, what we did with just 12 players was pretty amazing. That really sets the tone for our expectations going forward."
