April 27, 2008

DANVILLE, Ky. – In a game dominated by pitching and defense, the DePauw University softball team was just a little bit better defeating Millsaps College 1-0 in the championship game of the 2008 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament (SCAC) Sunday, April 27 at Millennium Park in Danville, Ky.

The Tigers, the nation's top ranked team, improved to 36-1 overall by winning their first conference tournament championship in school history.

Both DePauw's Megan Soultz and the Majors' Kasey Thibodeaux made things very difficult for teams to generate any offense. Following a scoreless first inning and a half, Thibodeaux retired the first hitter of the inning on a flyout to centerfield. Ashlee Anton then stepped to the plate and delivered a solo home run that just cleared the fence for the game's only run, giving Anton six homers on the year and adding to a single-season, school-record total.

Soultz allowed only two hits the entire game in seven innings to move her record to 32-1 on the season, walking two hitters and striking out eight. Thibodeaux was just as good in the circle but was tagged with the loss after allowing one run on five hits with one strikeout and no walks. She fell to 8-7 on the year.

Anton and Emma Minx each finished with two hits in the win for the Tigers, while Tiffany Ladnier and Jen McKinley were the only two Majors to get a hit off Soultz.

Millsaps ends its season with a 20-14 record, a year removed from a 12-26 finish in 2007, while DePauw advances to the NCAA Division III Tournament for a second-straight season.