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It's been a great month plus for Minnesota Softball. The team tied a program record for consecutive wins with 15. They took down #2 Michigan in a thrilling Big Ten Tournament clinching victory. Sara Groenewegen continued to be on fire and took over the NCAA wins lead for at least a little while this weekend. But as they say, all good things must come to an end and for Minnesota that end appeared in the form of the Washington Huskies.
On Saturday the Huskies dealt the Gophers their first loss of the Seattle Regional, beating the Gophers 5-2 in the first game on Saturday. This forced the Gophers into a must win situation, facing the NDSU Bison again on Saturday night. The game wasn't as easy as the day before. NDSU took a 3-0 lead early in the contest and the rest of the game was a battle. The Gophers emerged with a 7-5 victory to earn another shot at Washington on Championship Sunday.
To advance out of the regional, Minnesota had to win back to back games over the host Huskies. Unfortunately it was not to be, as Minnesota fell to Washington earlier today 15-7.
https://twitter.com/GopherSoftball/status/734498442551033856
Minnesota battled just like they did yesterday, rallying back from a 12-2 hole to score 5 runs with two outs in the bottom of the 5th inning. The gap was too big to close however and Washington moves forward to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
The end of a season is never fun, but it's been a great year for Minnesota Softball. The Gophers finished the regular season 2nd in the Big Ten and they delivered the aforementioned Big Ten Tournament title in dramatic fashion. They also continued the program's run of NCAA berths that started in 2013. I look forward to seeing them continue their success in 2017.