MARSHALL, Texas — Moravian University’s 2023 softball season ended Saturday night after an amazing run to the Division III College World Series.
The eighth-seeded Greyhounds lost 12-4 in a win-or-go-home elimination game to No. 3 Trine (Indiana) University. Both teams came into the game 1-1 in the tournament.
- Moravian lost 12-4 to Trine University of Indiana
- It was Moravian's first trip to the Division III College World Series since 2010
- The Greyhounds finished the season 38-12-0
The loss on the third day of the NCAA Division III Softball Championship capped an incredible 38-12-0 season that saw Moravian make its fourth trip in program history to the College Softball World Series.
"Things didn’t really go our way early on," said Coach Josh Baltz. "Maybe if we make a play or two early on, it’s a different game."
Scheduled for Saturday afternoon, the game was delayed for hours by weather and lightning and didn’t start until 10 p.m. at East Texas Baptist University.
"We have so much fight in us and we’re so young. We knew we had the ability to get here and it was just putting the pieces together."Ajala Elmore, Moravian junior
Moravian fell behind early, with Trine jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Trine added four more in the second, and before you knew it, Trine led 8-0 on seven hits and two errors from the Greyhounds.
Moravian fell behind 10-0 in the third with Trine pitcher Debbie Hill blasting a two-out, two-run homer to all but put it away.
The Greyhounds got on the board in the bottom of the third with a two-run single from freshman Marcie Silberman, a Salisbury High School product.
Sophomore Holly Walter of Southern Lehigh gave Moravian life in the fourth with a long two-run single to right that cut the Trine lead to six, 10-4.
Greyhounds fall to No. 5 Trine University, 12-4 in five innings, at the 2023 NCAA DIII Championship Tournament to end the season with a 38-12 record, the 1st 50-game season in program history #HoundEm @moraviansb pic.twitter.com/QWaijm7yup
— Moravian Greyhounds (@MUGreyhounds) June 4, 2023
But Trine added two more in the fifth and Moravian couldn’t score in the bottom half of the inning to end the game in a run-rule.
"We had good [at-bats] and battled back," Baltz said. "I was pleased with the fight throughout the game."
Walter went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Silberman had a hit and two RBIs.
It was Moravian’s first trip to the College World Series since 2010. A former assistant, this was Baltz's first season after taking over for longtime coach John Byrne.
Junior Ajala Elmore said with several new players, it was hard to imagine when the season began the Greyhounds being among the last eight Division III teams still playing in June.
They set a school record, playing 50 games this year. Walter, Elmore, sophomore Lindsey Gawrys (Whitehall) and sophomore Sage Snyder (North Warren Regional) played in every game.
"We have so much fight in us and we’re so young," Elmore said. "We knew we had the ability to get here and it was just putting the pieces together. It definitely took everyone on the team, one through 23, to get us here.”
The Greyhounds started pitcher Madi Cunningham, a sophomore from Coplay and Whitehall High School. She pitched 4.1 innings with a strikeout.
Baltz in the postgame news conference said he was proud of the team's effort.
“We got better and better as the season went and that was the plan coming in," he said. "So I think next year when the time comes that’s a new team.
"But right now [I'm] just happy with this team and what we were able to accomplish. That’s what I want to think about right now.”
Moravian won the Landmark Conference championship, an NCAA Division III Regional title and its first NCAA Division III Super Regional championship.
