Class of 2022 spotlights final regular-season home games in big way
SIOUX CITY, IOWA – 147 wins, three regular-season Great Plains Athletic Conference championships, one GPAC postseason tournament triumph, and three NAIA championship appearances --- a resume worthy of celebration.
A pair of dominant victories over Hastings College by the run-rule variety (10-0 in six innings in game one and 12-1 in five innings in game two) gave third baseman Morgan Nixon (Omaha, Neb.), catcher Mykel Ann Gray (Ames, Iowa), pitcher Katherine Wurtz (Omaha, Neb.), infielder/utility player Bre Tjebben (Fort Dodge, Iowa), outfielder Ellie Cropley (Sioux City, Iowa) and shortstop Lexie Stolen (Sioux City, Iowa) plenty of reasons for broad smiles and laughter during the postseason game ceremony honoring the accomplishments.
However, head coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann and her seniors know the job is far from complete. Buoyed by Wurtz's third complete-game shutout in her last six starts in game one and Stolen tying former standout Kati Steffen for the career home run record with her 38th blast, a grand slam to top things off, in game two, the home team, improving to 29-13 overall and 15-7 in conference action, was a well-oiled machine.
Nixon and Tjebben threw their names among the headlines with three RBI each in game one, while junior infielder Sydney Petersen (Omaha, Neb.) tallied two hits in game two. Freshman circle standout Grace Buffington (Gretna, Neb.) was brilliant during the nightcap, reaching her 15th victory by surrendering only two hits and one earned run.
Morningside awaits the remainder of the 2022 GPAC regular season to see where the postseason loop championships take them.
NOTES: Jones-Sitzmann added to the afternoon's festivities by reaching a stratospheric milestone. She joined an exclusive club by earning her 800th career victory with the game two triumph.