DACC softball wins on Kaitlyn Loewenstein walk-off squeeze
May 10—DANVILLE — Kaitlyn Loewenstein would rather forget her two games on Sunday in the NJCAA Region 24 Tournament.
The former Danville High standout not only struggled at the plate, but she also committed a pair of errors in the field as the Danville Area Community College Jaguars went 1-1.
"I'm just so glad that we were playing today," said Loewenstein as the Jaguars faced a must-win situation in Monday's game at Parkland.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Loewenstein laid down a successful squeeze bunt allowing Elizabeth Pavy to score with the game-winning run as DACC advanced to the Region 24 Championship game with a 1-0 victory over Parkland.
"This was the game where I needed to show up for my team," said Loewenstein, who reached base in all four of her plate appearances. "This is my last season of playing softball, as I'm going into nursing school, and I want it to be the best season of my life. I didn't want it to end today.
"This win was the most memorable game of my life."
"I was very happy with how our girls responded today," DACC coach Matt Cervantes said. "To play with their backs against the wall and fight back shows the grit and tenacity of this group. I knew it would be a dog fight today and it was exciting to get the win and it was very fun."
With the victory, DACC (41-13) played Illinois Central College in the championship final. The Lady Jaguars lost the game 17-2. The Cougars automatically qualifies for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament representing Central Region A, while the Lady Jaguars will host St. Louis Community College this Saturday and Sunday to represent Central Region B.
"St. Louis has a great squad and we will take it game by game and pitch by pitch," Cervantes said. "I am excited for the girls, they are 41-13 this year and it is exciting to see how they have done and I am glad to be a small fraction of that success, it is awesome."
The Lady Jaguars got at least one runner on base in every inning against the Cobras and DACC ended up leaving seven runners on base in scoring position.
"We never got down," Loewenstein said. "We have a 5-second rule. If we make an out, we have 5 seconds to stress about it and then we are done talking about it.
"We really did a good job today of keeping our heads up."
Pavy led off the seventh with a rule-book double down the third-base line as the ball went beyond the outfield fence. Baylee Parker followed a sacrifice bunt, moving Pavy up to third and setting the stage for Loewenstein, but also had a game-winning squeeze bunt against Parkland on April 23.
Raven Morrison pitched her second consecutive shutout for DACC, holding Parkland to just two hits, while striking out five.
