Gaston College softball season ends with 12th place World Series finish

A year of extraordinary success came to an end for the Gaston College softball team in the wee hours of Thursday morning in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series at Chocolocco Park in Oxford, Ala.

The Rhinos finished with a 62-6 record after their third World Series appearance in four years following a back-and-forth 6-3 loss to No. 6 Santa Fe, Fla., in an elimination game that didn't end until 12:54 a.m. Eastern Time.

The contest, originally scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday afternoon, didn't get started until 10:33 p.m. Wednesday night due to excessive rain at the World Series venue that altered the entire tournament schedule.

The late night defeat ended Gaston College's season with a 2-2 record and 12th-place finish in the 20-team event.

The Rhinos of coach Michael Steuerwald had previously won the Region 10 regular season and tournament titles and the Mid-Atlantic District championship to advance to the World Series.

Gaston College entered the tournament as a No. 14 seed and won 3-1 in its Monday opener against Wabash Valley, Ill.

After losing 8-0 to No. 3 seed Northeast Alabama Community College Tuesday afternoon, the Rhinos stayed alive with a 7-6 elimination game victory over Dodge city, Kansas.

In that Tuesday evening contest, Gaston College scored twice in the first inning and five times in the fourth and had a chance to claim a mercy rule victory before the Conquistadors scored two runs in the sixth and five in the seventh - and left runners on second and third when Gaston College reliever Sophia Crist got a strikeout to close out the victory.

Katelyn Brandon (2 hits, 3 RBIs) had a two-run single in the first inning and RBI double in the fourth. Adah Bruining (RBI single), Arissa Duff (RBI double) and Mary Hinson (sacrifice fly) also drove in runs for the Rhinos.

Aidan Ledbetter picked up both Tuesday games, getting the win the 6 2/3 innings as her seasonal record improved to 24-2.

In Wednesday's elimination game that stretched into Thursday morning, Crist and a scrappy offense kept the Rhinos' hopes alive until Santa Fe struck for three runs in the top of the eighth inning.

Gaston College had rallied from a 2-1 deficit with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 3-2 lead. Sante Fe tallied a run in the top of the seventh to force the extra frame.

And despite facing long odds after the late Saints' surge, the Rhinos loaded the bases with the game ending on a fly ball to centerfield.sa