NAIA Softball Tournament opening round Chickasaw Bracket

The fourth-seeded Baker Wildcats lost to #3 LSUA during an elimination game in the Chickasaw Bracket of the NAIA Opening Round on Wednesday, May, 15th 2024 by a score of 7-1, effectively ending Baker’s 2024 season. 

Coming off of a gut-wrenching loss to the top-seeded USAO the night before, The Wildcats failed to gain any traction against LSUA. The Generals came out hot, scoring 5 runs in the first two innings and never looking back, shutting down a Baker offense that had scored at least 3 runs in both of their first two games in the Chickasaw Bracket. 

Baker struggled on defense, allowing 11 hits and had 3 Errors, while all seven of LSUA’s scores came unearned against Wildcat pitchers Breana Barchak and Tess Eubank. 

The Wildcats managed to gather 7 hits against the Generals. None of them, however, led to anything more than a single and Baker only scored one run off of those 7 hits. Thanks to the clean-up efforts of the infield and several balls that were hit hard, but landed in precarious positions as LSUA played almost mistake-free ball, and even though the General’s starting pitcher played the entire game without a single strikeout, Baker was never 

able to gain any kind of momentum.  

In their 7 hits, only Reese Curry was able to record more than one, hitting two singles on her first two attempts-bats, while 6 total Wildcats recorded a hit. Baker’s only run came on a single by Mary Grace Hess, a Senior from Burlington, Kansas, to earn her team-best 40 RBI season and bringer her career RBI total over 60. 

LSUA took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first by capitalizing on a hit, an error and a walk to load the bases and set up a two-run single. The Generals continued to pile it on with three more runs in the second, after getting two run-scoring singles, with an RBI double in between and collecting 4 hits. 

Eubank relieved Barchak in the third and immediately racked up three straight strikeouts and finished her 4 innings with 6 total strikeouts. She was able to keep LSUA scoreless in the third and fourth innings, until the Generals ended it with two runs in the fifth. 

Baker tried to claw back, with Hess driving Ashlee Jackman in for the Wildcats’ only run. This came after Curry and Jackman had consecutive hits to the outfield to lead off the inning and moved their way to second and third, where Hess hit a ground-out RBI that sent Jackman home, putting some life back into a now, 5-1 comeback attempt. 

As hard as Baker fought, it just wasn’t enough, as the Generals scored two more in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the game away for good and a final of 7-1. Both of LSUA’s runs stemmed from an error and a sacrifice fly to make them unearned. 

Baker ends their season with their second consecutive 30-win season to go along with the second time in program history that they have qualified for back-to-back appearances in the NAIA Tournament. The Wildcats had an overall record of 34-15, going 17-7 in conference play, also winning 9 out of their last 10 games and leading them to the #2 seed in the Heart Softball Conference Tournament. Mary Grace Hess, Savannah Bray and Kiera Baker were all named to the All-Heart First Team, with Maddie Ball and Riley Phillips being selected to the Third Team and giving Baker a total of five players to earn All-Heart honors for the 2024 season.