Lakers Season Comes To Close In Extra-Inning Heartbreak Against ONU

CROWN POINT, Ind. – Olivet Nazarene scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning to outlast Roosevelt 3-1 in an elimination game at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Crown Point Sportsplex in Crown Point, Ind.

For the third time in four games at the conference tournament, the Lakers scored in the opening inning to take an early lead. This time it took just one batter to put Roosevelt on the board as junior center fielder Scout Kram hit a line drive over the left fielder's head and rounded the bases for her first career home run. It was just the sixth homer this season for the Lakers, but the third that didn't leave the ballpark.

Roosevelt nearly added more in the bottom of the first with Anaisa Lozada following Kram with a single through the left side of the infield. She stole second then advanced to third on Athena Pomele-Pen's groundout, but was caught off the bag on Bailee Reynolds' line drive to the shortstop for an inning-ending double play.

It looked like the one run might be enough for the Lakers with Kate Sisson in the circle as the senior retired the first eight batters she faced. A two-out single in the third was stranded at first and a leadoff single never advanced past first base in the fourth. Sisson avoided trouble in the fifth after a two-out triple, but her luck ran out in the sixth.

The Tigers led off the sixth with a walk before Sisson recorded two straight outs, allowing the runners to just move up to second. However, a single up the middle forced a play at the plate and the Olivet Nazarene runner was able to slide in safely to tie the game. The Tigers added two runs on a pair of extra base hits and an error in the eighth inning.

Sisson took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits with one strikeout to match her one walk issued.

Roosevelt managed just three hits over the final seven innings and didn't advance a runner past first base after the first inning. Most of the offense came from Kram's bat as she finished 3 for 4 while Lozada and Eliza Belter's pinch-hit single in the seventh being the only other hits the Lakers mustered. The only other base runner was Bailee Reynolds, who drew a fourth-inning walk.

The Lakers conclude their season at 23-18 overall after qualifying for the CCAC Tournament for the third consecutive season.