Historic Season Ends In MAC Championship Game

Saturday, May 10

11 am

30-22

Northern Illinois

32-24

Buffalo

OHIO

Historic Season Ends In MAC Championship Game

5/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

AKRON, OH – The most successful season in University at Buffalo softball history came to a close on Saturday afternoon as the Bulls fell to Ohio, 4-0, in the MAC Championship Game. UB's season comes to a close at 30-22, it's most every victories and just the second time since joining Division I that the Bulls have finished a year over .500.

Ohio's Savannah Jo Dorsey kept the Bulls off the board for a second straight game as she earned Tournament MVP honors. The Bulls had their opportunities, but left seven runners on base. The Bulls put runners on in each of the first three innings, but couldn't cross the plate. Ohio scored a run in the bottom of the second on a bases loaded walk, but the Bulls got out of further trouble.

Ohio tacked on three more in the fifth as Dorsey hit a one-out home run and then two more came in to score on a sacrifice fly and an error. The Bulls made one last charge in the sixth as singles from Alexis Curtiss and Savanna Norcio put two on with nobody out. However, the Bobcats got out of the inning to hold on to the advantage. The Bulls were then retired in order in the seventh as the Bobcats claimed the MAC crown.

"It was a hard fought battle and we came up short against a good team," said head coach Trena Peel. "We had runners in scoring position and couldn't come up with a timely hit."

Speckman struck out three in the game as she finished the season with a 22-13 record. She finished her career with 48 victories, setting the single-season and career wins record. Speckman finished the year with a school-record 228 strikeouts and finished her career with 530, just six shy of the career record.

The Bulls finished with five hits in the game, including two from Curtiss. Senior Holly Luciano and junior Karly Nevez each found the hit column as did Norcio.

The Bulls placed three on the All-Tournament team as Speckman, Curtiss and junior Hayley Barrow were named to the squad. It is the first time in school history that the Bulls had placed any on the All-Tournament team.

Senior Sammi Gallardo finished her career with a single-season record 16 home runs, hitting 30 for her career. She also drove in 42 runs this year, just one shy of the single-season record and 93 for her career, which is second most. Luciano, who had hits in five of her last six games, finished the year with a team-best .340 batting average and finished her career with a school-record 95 runs scored. She drove in 34 runs in 2014, which is now tied for third most in a single season.

As a team, the Bulls, who were picked to finish last in the MAC preseason poll, won the school's first ever division title and finished the year with 30 wins. They remained over .500 wire-to-wire this year. The team set offensive single-season records for batting average (.266), hits (367), doubles (71), triples (12), home runs (34), runs scored (236) and runs batted in (208).

"I am so proud of this team," said Peel. "They embraced the change and made UB softball relevant. They are the winningest team in school history and we will keep our heads held high for that. I am thankful for my great staff for making this season possible. Everything great comes to an end and unfortunately we just finished a little earlier than we expected today."