Box Score (Game #1)
Box Score (Game #2)

KANEOHE, Hawaii (May 16) -- The Central Washington University softball team's run in the 2010 NCAA Division II Softball Championship came to a halt on Sunday, as the Wildcats fell 1-0 to Hawaii Pacific in the second championship game at the West Region Tournament in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

CWU won the first game of the day, 3-2 in nine innings, to force the "if necessary" championship game, which the Wildcats dropped by the 1-0 score.

Central Washington finished its best season in the program history with a 40-15 record and one win shy of the super regional round of the tournament. Hawaii Pacific (44-7), ranked third nationally, advances to the Super Regional, where it will host Chico State in a best-of-three series next weekend.

For the second consecutive day, the Wildcats rode the right pitching arm of junior Lauren Hadenfeld (Vancouver/Evergreen HS). Matching up against Hawaii Pacific ace Sherise Musquiz in each contest, Hadenfeld allowed just one big hit in game one -- a two-run home run by Musquiz in the fourth inning -- and Central was able to force extra innings with an unearned run in the top of the sixth inning.

In the opener, the Wildcats scored first in the top of the first inning as junior Samantha Petrich (Chehalis/W.F. West HS) had a two-out double and Kelsey Haupert (Olympia/Black Hills HS) followed with a RBI single to make it a 1-0 game. The score remained that way until the fourth, when Musquiz hit her first home run of the season to center field, giving the Sea Warriors a 2-1 edge.

In the sixth inning, Central took advantage of a rare defensive miscue by Hawaii Pacific. With two out, senior Ashley Fix (Puyallup) reached on a two-out infield error to give the Wildcats a pair of runners on base, and sophomore Meghan Kopczynski (Ellensburg), who had a game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday against UH Hilo, delivered in the clutch once again with a run-scoring hit to tie the game at 2-2 in Sunday's opener.

Neither team scored again until the top of the ninth inning, when Central called upon junior Taylor Trautmann (Renton/John F. Kennedy HS) in a pinch-hitting role. With the outfield shading the left-handed hitter towards left field, Trautmann lined a pitch that bounced to the fence just right of the 220-foot sign in center field, ending up at third base with a triple. After consecutive outs failed to bring Trautmann home from third, junior Keilani Cruz (Tacoma/Curtis HS) walked and sophomore Jennifer Schwartz (Spokane/Shadle Park HS) followed with an infield single that scored Trautmann and gave the Wildcats the lead. Hawaii Pacific had the tying run at second base in the bottom of the ninth, but consecutive fly outs to left field clinched the game for Hadenfeld and the Wildcats and forced the "if necessary" championship game.

The Wildcats finished with nine hits in the nine-inning opener, handing Musquiz just her second loss of the season and becoming just the second team to defeat Hawaii Pacific on the Sea Warriors' home field. Schwartz and Haupert had two hits apiece to lead the offense.

In the second game, a one-out walk and consecutive singles by Maile Kim and Nicole Morrow accounted for Hawaii Pacific's first-inning run, and Musquiz made the lead hold up in the 1-0 Sea Warrior victory.

Hadenfeld and Musquiz were locked up in a pitcher's duel the rest of the way, as Hadenfeld, who broke the school's single-season record for victories with her 24th win of the year in the opener, held the Sea Warriors to four hits over the final six innings. Central had opportunities to score in the first, third, and sixth innings, in which they left two runners on base each time, but they were never able to push the tying run across home plate. Their best opportunity may have come in the sixth, when they had two runners in scoring position with two out, but the potential tying run was thrown out at the plate.

Each team finished the final game with six hits, as six different CWU players had one hit each. Musquiz, who improved to 28-2 as a pitcher for the Sea Warriors, was the lone player on either team with more than one safety in the finale as she was 2 for 3.

Central Washington, which loses four seniors to graduation, finished its campaign with wins in 22 of its final 27 games and finished a program-record 25 games over the .500 mark with 40 victories.