Marvelous final day run ends in pod championship

FREMONT, NEB. – A gritty never-say-die effort from Morningside University left them tantalizing close to the 2022 Great Plains Athletic Conference postseason championship series.

Head coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann's Mustangs (32-15), battling tooth and nail to get their coach another shot at a league postseason tournament title, took Midland University's Christensen Field by storm Friday, May 6. Mside knocked out Dordt University with a four-run fourth inning rally in game one to win 5-1. They didn't stop there, forcing an ultimate pod championship clash with a 7-5 victory over the regular season champions and top-seeded Warriors. However, the march towards a possible trip to Yankton, S.D., for the title set against third-seeded Mount Marty University was derailed by Midland starting pitcher Aliyah Rincon. 

Rincon was just as tough to solve in the finale for two days removed from blanking Morningside 3-0 in a winner's bracket battle. She allowed only three baserunners, while her offense managed to get to visiting pitching to the tune of two runs for a 2-0 triumph.

The heroes for Jones-Sitzmann's squad were plentiful. Senior third baseman Morgan Nixon (Omaha, Neb.) cracked a double and drove in a run against the Defenders, supporting a complete-game, nine-hitter by senior hurler Katherine Wurtz (Omaha, Neb.). Junior designated player Sydney Petersen (Omaha, Neb.) scored two runs, too. A trio of individuals produced multiple RBI in the victory over Midland. Sophomore outfielder Makenna Sidzyik (Omaha, Neb.), Nixon, and senior designated player Bre Tjebben (Fort Dodge, Iowa) made up the attack, as Tjebben drove in three and doubled, with Nixon and Sidzyik both driving home two.