Vanguard eliminated at NAIA Tournament

An elimination tournament is, in essence, an exercise in gravity, as the pull and pressure of competition pare the participants until a champion is crowned.

The Vanguard University softball team’s 5-3 loss to Avila of Missouri on Tuesday in the first elimination game of the four-team NAIA Opening-Round Tournament pivoted on the gravitational fruition of two batted balls.

The first such ball was a looping fly to shallow left-center field off the bat of the Lions’ Cassie Balswick. Its arc toward the outfield grass was interrupted at the last second by Avila’s diving center fielder Kaycee Dexter, who stabbed the would-be extra-base hit off the turf for the second out of the top of the fifth inning.

Balswick’s blow followed an RBI single from Emily Howard that pulled Vanguard within 4-2 and put runners on first and second. Had Balswick’s ball dropped, or skidded past Dexter, at least one run would have scored. And when Taylor Wilson followed with an RBI single to pare the lead to 4-3, a wave of what-might-have-been notion swept through the Vanguard dugout and grandstand.

Conversely, a sinking liner to right field by Avila’s Meagan Manestar with one out in the bottom of the fifth, dipped just below the glove of a charging Balswick. The ball skipped past the splayed Balswick and rolled to the fence for an RBI triple that finalized the scoring.

Recurring regret will likely plague the Lions, who are forced to ponder their offseason prematurely after bowing out of their first NAIA Tournament appearance since 2007.

Vanguard, which won the Golden State Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and won 41 of its first 50 games to achieve a No. 14 national ranking, lost six of its final 11 games to finish 46-15.

The No. 2-seeded Lions, who hosted the four-team Costa Mesa Bracket that will send one team to the 10-team NAIA World Series in Florida, left 12 runners on base, including eight in the first three innings, against the No. 4-seeded Eagles, who advanced to a second elimination game Thursday with a 37-23 mark.

Vanguard was four for 16 with runners in scoring position, while Avila got three hits in six such opportunities.

The Eagles scored twice in both the first and the third off Vanguard starter Courtney Thornhill.

The Lions scored three in the fifth, when junior shortstop Kaitlin Estes and sophomore catcher Samantha Shaffer had back-to-back doubles to begin the rally.

Howard, pinch-hitting at the time, singled in Shaffer, and left fielder Taylor Wilson, one of only two senior regulars, singled on the 10^th pitch of her two-out at-bat to help the comeback continue.

But senior second baseman Summer Penner grounded out to end the threat.

Sophomore third baseman Morgan Pilbin doubled to open the Vanguard seventh, and advanced to third on a one-out wild pitch. But she was left holding the bag as Avila secured the final two outs.

Shaffer and Pilbin were two for four to pace the Lions’ eight-hit attack that also included a single by junior Kim Estes.

Sophomore Kolbi Tonini allowed one run in 3 2/3 relief innings and, along with freshmen pitchers Thornhill and Vanessa Dwyer, both All-GSAC performers, represent a strong corps of returners to fuel optimism.

“We have a lot of new kids coming in and we’re definitely excited about the returning group [that includes all-conference picks Payton Ross and Shaffer],” Vanguard coach Beth Renkoski said. “We wanted to still be playing, but this [tournament] was an invaluable experience. We’re going to look back on this season as a great year, a special year together.”

NAIA Opening-Round Tournament

Avila 5, Vanguard 3

SCORE BY INNINGS

VU 000 030 0 – 3 8 0

Avila 202 010 x – 5 9 4

Thornhill, Tonini (3) and Shaffer; King, Behymer (5) and Nieslanik. W – King, 9-5. L – Thornhill, 16-6. Sv – Beyhmer. 2B – Ka. Estes (VU), Shaffer (VU), Pilbin (VU). 3B – K. Dexter (A), Manestar (A).

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Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5