It was a remarkable year for the Lindenwood athletic program in 2009-10. Over the next 10 weeks, www.lindenwoodlions.com will bring you the top 10 moments of the last school year.

The No. 7 moment comes from the Lady Lion softball program and its key win over MidAmerican Nazarene.
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The 2010 softball season hadn't exactly started out like the Lady Lions expected, winning just eight of their first 18 games. But the silver lining in that record was that the team had only just begun its conference portion of the schedule.

Lindenwood was just four games into the HAAC portion of the schedule and was 2-2 with a pivotal weekend series against MidAmerica Nazarene.

Mother Nature would play a pivotal role in the match-up. Rain and cold temperatures were in place in St. Charles and threatened to cancel the games. After pushing the first pitch back three separate times, the weather would finally allow the two teams to do battle.

"We actually canceled the game on Friday night and were forced to move it to Saturday and were even unsure if we would get it in then," head coach Don Loberg said. "I knew the girls would not be very happy with me because we hadn't given them the weekend off."

Game one would go to the Lady Lions as they dominated the Pioneers 11-3. Sophia Galatia would connect on three home runs and starter Aubrey Moss get the win. The second game of the day is the No. 7 moment of the 2009-10 athletic seasons.

In the opening game of the doubleheader the Lady Lions crushed Penny Eastman, who was named the conference pitcher of the year and in the second game would match-up against conference player of the year Jennifer Costa.

With the temperatures in the mid-40s, the Pioneers jumped out early, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first against Lady Lions' starter, Heidi Schertzer. Even with the cool temperatures the Lindenwood bats were still hot.

In the bottom of the first, the home team would come right back and tie the score. After a leadoff walk to Samantha Van Pelt, Galati would connect on her fourth home run of the day to tie up the score at two.

MidAmerica scored an unearned run in the second to take a one run lead heading into the home half of the inning. Trailing by a run, the Lady Lions would put together one of their two big innings.

The inning started with the Lady Lions putting runners on second and third with one out. Loberg made a move and sent up Katie Wessel to pinch hit. That decision worked out, as Wessel would single and drive in two runs, giving the team a one run lead.

"I liked to use Wessel as a pinch hitter throughout the year," Loberg said. "She is a senior and I thought it was time to get her into the game."

"It always feels great to come off the bench and preform well for your team, but it felt even better when playing against a great team in the conference," Wessel said.

Up next was Galati who had already homered four times on the day. The Pioneers would have nothing to do with her and walked her to put two runners on. The big inning would continue as Danielle Merli doubled to bring in two more runs.

The Pioneers would finally get out of the inning but not before Lindenwood scored four runs to take a 6-3 lead.

MidAmerica would muster two runs in the third to cut the lead to one, but again the Lady Lion offense erupted.

The bottom of the third started with a hit and two walks to load the bases for Wessel. The senior from Breese, Ill., drove in her third run of the day after getting hit by a Costa pitch.

With one run already in and the bases still loaded, Caitlain Diesen crossed the plate after a passed ball. Once again Galati would have a chance to do some damage but this time grounded into a fielder's choice.

Now with runners on first and second Costa would put another runner on via the walk. For the second time in the inning the Lady Lions had the bases loaded. This time it was Sophie Berman at the plate. Berman never had a chance as Costa walked her fourth hitter of the inning bringing across Lindenwood's third run of the inning.

So far in the third, the Lady Lions had scored two runs on just one hit and still had the bases loaded. Emily Johnson would connect for the home team's second hit of the inning, which would score two runs. The inning finally came to a close with Lindenwood scoring five runs on two hits and taking an 11-5 lead into the fourth inning.

Trailing by six, the Pioneers would not give up. After surrendering nine runs in the previous two innings the MidAmerica offense would have to answer, and it did with a four-run frame of its own. The lead was cut to 11-9 with plenty of game left.

"We were not very comfortable at all with the lead the way they hit," Loberg said. "We beat them the previous year in a three-game series in the conference tournament so I thought they would like to get some revenge."

For the next two innings both pitchers would finally hold each team off the scoreboard. The game would go into the bottom of the sixth inning with the Lady Lions leading by two runs.

Lindenwood would get a much needed insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning on Wessel's fourth RBI of the game.

Heading into the final frame, the Lady Lions held a three-run lead and were just three outs from a two-game sweep. MidAmerica would not go down quietly as Ashley Mayhle led off the inning with a triple, followed by a Leslie Jones single to cut the lead to two and bring the tying run to the plate.

The next hitter was Kimberly Russell and she would reach via an error, bringing the winning run to the plate with no one out. With the game-tying run at first base, Stephanie Jones would single to cut the lead to one and, most importantly, send the all important tying run to third with no outs.

Again Loberg would make a big decision, he brought in game one's winner, Moss, to try and save it for the Lady Lions. Moss would come into a sticky situation but got the all important first out with a strikeout of Caitlin Gardner. Next up was Brianna Payne, who popped out weakly to the shortstop for the second out of the inning.

Still, the tying run was just 60 feet away from home plate, but now there were two outs. Taylor Ryal was the last chance for the Pioneers, but Moss would shut the door, striking out Ryal and preserving the win for the Lady Lions.

"I had no other option to bring in Moss," Loberg said. "She threw a good game earlier in the game and with the weather changing and getting cold I had to make a move. I had all the confidence in the world in her."

The win would even up the Lady Lions' record at 10 but most importantly would improve their record to 4-2 in HAAC play.

"I think those two wins were pretty big for us in conference play," Wessel said. "It kind of set the tone for what we were going to do in conference."

Wessel was the hitting star for the Lindenwood, going 1-for-3 off the bench and driving in a season-high four runs. Merli, Galati, Johnson, and Schlosser would all pinch in with two hits a piece.

After the sweep of MidAmerica, the Lady Lions would win 11 of their next 12 conference games to finish on top of the HAAC standings for the first time since 2002.


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No. 10 Moment of the Year: Women's Tennis Wins HAAC Championship