Release courtesy of Muhlenberg Athletic Communications

The magical run of the winningest team in Muhlenberg athletic history came to an end when softball dropped a pair of games to defending national champion Trine on the second day of the NCAA super regional.

The fourth-ranked Thunder belted three home runs to run away with the first game, 12-1, and tie the series at a game apiece.

The second game of the day, the winner-take-all third game of the series, was a tense contest that went into extra innings tied at 1-1. With the season on the line for both teams, the eighth and ninth innings passed without a run being scored. 

The Mules (36-13) put a runner in scoring position in the top of the 10th but could not cash in, and Trine (38-6) hit a walkoff two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to earn a trip to Salem, Virginia, for the championship series.

Freshman Eden Clark was named most outstanding pitcher of the super regional after a beyond-valiant effort that resulted in her second complete game in as many days. She pitched a total of 16.2 innings against one of the top offenses in Division III in the two games, allowing 12 hits and only four earned runs.

Freshman Kineta Bradley brought in Muhlenberg's lone run of the deciding game with a two-out single in the sixth, plating junior Lillie Teague, who reached base with a one-out single and advanced on a perfectly placed bunt hit by senior Scooter Hulsen. 

Pictured above: Teague celebrates after sliding in safely with the tying run.

Trine made a bid to go back in front in the bottom of the sixth, but the Mules threw out a runner trying to score from first on a double on relays from freshman right fielder Sofia Gallahue to junior first baseman Peri Kahn to Bradley, who tagged out the sliding runner.

Gallahue doubled and scored Muhlenberg's lone run in the opening game on a sacrifice fly by Teague.

After the postgame hugs and tears, the team's three seniors reflected on a magnificent season full of milestones and records that matched the farthest advancement ever by a Muhlenberg women's team in an NCAA Division III championship.

"We didn't think at the beginning of the season that we'd get here," said Sophia Jacobson, "So the fact that we won a regional, and we got to the 10th inning of Game 3 of a super regional ... I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my softball career."

"It was one of the best things I've ever experienced in my life," said Hulsen. "I could not be more grateful to my coaches, my teammates, and the people I met along the way."

Those people include the 27 members of the team who did not graduate last weekend and will carry the lessons they learned this year forward. 

"We are a very young team and we would not have gotten as far as we've gotten and we would not have done the things we did this year without [the seniors'] leadership," said head coach Sarah Leavenworth. "It has absolutely nothing to do with stats or playing time, but they demonstrated for this very young team what it means to be a Mule ... and I could not be prouder."

"One of our biggest goals was to pass down our love and passion to the younger girls," said Maddy Svenningsen. "I could see the passion and the love for the sport even in one of the most tense situations that we've been in all season. To see that translated makes me really hopeful for the future."

"I think they can go really far [next year], and I'm excited to see them," added Hulsen.