No Contest
It was a pretty nontraditional and heart breaking end to the GMAC conference softball championship this past weekend. If you want to get caught up on where we left off, just go back and read some of my other posts. I'm not going to bore you with a full recap here.
Friday was a pretty big day for the Tiffin Dragons as they had to face off against the Northwood Timberwolves on Friday morning. It was a really close game with Tiffin eventually getting the best of them 10 to 9 in extra innings. It was actually a pretty exciting finish to the game. With a runner on base, a Tiffin player hit the ball pretty solid sending it into the outfield.
The fielder slightly mishandled the ball, but that split second gave the Tiffin runner the time she needed to slide in just touching home plate for the game winning run.
This set Tiffin up for a rematch against Ohio Dominican who they had lost to earlier in the tournament. Thankfully, things went a little differently this game and Tiffin bested ODU 4 to 1 in a pretty straight forward game. It was a big win for the Dragons as it set them up to play the championship game(s) on Saturday morning.
There was just one problem. Their opponent ended up being Hillsdale College. You might remember earlier in the season I was concerned about the match up between HC and TU as in the past Hillsdale has dominated them. Turns out, that was unfounded as Tiffin swept the series against Hillsdale.
Of course I was hoping for a similar outcome this time, but it wasn't meant to be. You might recall this was a double elimination tournament. Since Tiffin had already lost once to Ohio Dominican, if they lost against Hillsdale, they were out. On the other hand, since Hillsdale had yet to lose a game in the tournament, if Tiffin won the first game, they would then have to play a second game to complete the double elimination requirement.
It was a rough start to the game with Hillsdale jumping to an 11 to 4 lead over Tiffin. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans and with the bases loaded full of Tiffin runners, the sky opened up and it started pouring. Tiffin wanted to continue playing, but the Hillsdale coach was throwing a tantrum on the field and eventually the officials conceded.
With the rain not showing any signs of stopping, the officials called the game as a "no contest" ruling and because Tiffin wasn't able to complete the double elimination, Hillsdale was labeled the tournament champion.
I'm not saying Tiffin would have come back to win, but they at least deserved the shot. Especially after the season they had. To lose on a technicality, is pretty crappy. I hope the child of a coach from Hillsdale gets the karma that is coming to him. That's a great big asterix next to their tournament title.
I'd also like to point out that Tiffin is still the regular season champ by a mile, so at least they have that. Plus, they get to move on to the NCAA tournament now. I'm really looking forward to seeing where they get placed and how they do on a national stage.
If Hillsdale makes it, needless to say I hope they get ousted in the first round! Classless trash.
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