ONU DROPS TWIN BILL TO SAINT XAVIER, QUALIFIES FOR CCAC TOURNAMENT

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Olivet Nazarene University softball team continued its streak of postseason appearances, wrapping up the 2024 regular season with a doubleheader setback to Saint Xavier Saturday afternoon at the SXU Softball Field. Despite the two losses, the Tigers earned a berth in the upcoming six-team CCAC Tournament.

The Purple & Yellow Gold struck first in the opener thanks to an RBI groundout off the bat of Stephanie Hause in the second inning. After Saint Xavier (24-12, 12-4 CCAC), who clinched a share of the CCAC regular-season title with the win, jumped ahead with two runs in the following frame, Kahiwa Ili plated Mallory O'Connor with an RBI single to tie up the game.

Saint Xavier reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning, but the Tigers again tied the score thanks to Hause, this time plating O'Connor with an RBI single in the sixth. The Cougars, however, retook the lead in their half of the inning with a two-run homer and tacked on two more in what became a four-spot inning, handing the Tigers the 7-3 loss.

O'Connor scored all three of ONU's runs in the opener and Gwen Bender was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate. Olivia Flinn was tagged with the loss as the ONU starter.

The offense didn't click in the regular-season finale for ONU, getting left off the scoreboard as SXU quickly put up eight runs to end the game early in the fifth inning. Carissa Bombardiere recorded a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 at the dish in the setback. Margaret Landis added a hit, as well. Allie Timm was given the loss.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to the postseason as they enter the CCAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed. They begin their quest to return to the conference tournament championship game with an opening-round matchup against No. 3 Roosevelt Thursday, May 2, at 3 p.m. in Crown Point, Ind.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu