Doane earned a spot in the 2009 GPAC softball tournament with a split against conference regular season champion Morningside College on Friday afternoon in Sioux City. The Tigers fell in game one, 3-0, as Morningside clinched the conference title. Doane came back to take game two, 3-2, to clinch a spot in the conference tournament starting on April 29 in Sioux City.
Game One: L 0-3
Doane starter Emily Larsen kept the Mustangs off the boards through the first three innings of play, not allowing a hit. Morningside, however, plated three runs on five hits in the fourth to come away with the win.
Larsen kept the Mustangs off the board the rest of the way as Morningside was unable to come up with any more hits. She finished the game, throwing six innings and allowing five hits while striking out four.
The Tigers, on the other hand, were limited by Mustang starter and reigning GPAC Pitcher-of-the-Year Kelly Baumert. Baumert held Doane to four hits, one in each of the first four innings. Doane's best scoring opportunity came in the third inning as the Tigers had runners at second and third with only one out. Baumert was able to collect back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the inning.
Game Two: W 3-2
The Tigers got just enough support for starter Jennifer Liddell who scattered four hits over seven innings of work.
In the first inning, the Tigers jumped ahead with a run as Whitney Poole came around to score. Poole reached with a single and stole second base. She was moved to third base by Mindy Nguyen on a sacrifice bunt. Poole scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Doane had four hits in the inning and had the bases loaded with one out but were unable to get the ball out of the infield.
In the bottom of the first, Morningside came back with two runs of their own. Both runs were unearned due to a Tiger error. Morningside left the bases loaded as the inning ended.
Doane trailed 2-1 going into the seventh inning. Hannah Kroese led off the inning with a base hit and moved to third on a double by Deidre Cardoza. Amber Remmers grounded out to second to tie the game as Kroese scored and Cardoza moved to third base. Following a foul out, Poole collected an infield single to score Cardoza and give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Liddell was able to work around a two-out walk to end the game as she struck out reigning GPAC Player-of-the-Year Kendra Klein.
Poole finished the game going 3-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI. Jennifer Montoya went 2-for-3 for the Tigers.