A record setting year for the Briar Cliff softball team ended Thursday at the hands of Mount Marty in the GPAC Postseason Tournament. The Chargers and Lancers duked it out for 12 innings, but Mount Marty won by a 4-3 score in Orange City, Iowa.
 
The Chargers won a program best 33 games this season while going 14-8 in the GPAC. As a team, the Chargers set a program best with 86 stolen bases, hit by pitches with 31, shutouts with 13, strikeouts with 417 and fielding percentage at .968. In yesterday's win over Dordt, Maddi Duncan set a new single-season BC strikeout record and ends her freshman year with 227 K's.
 
"Tough way to end our season, but overall, it was a good next step for us," said head coach Erin Bly. "We're not quite where we want to be yet, but we know what we need to work hard on this offseason, and we are excited to get to work. A big thank you to my senior class for making a historic year!"
 
The first three batters for the Chargers reached base to start the bottom half of the first. Karis Gifford led off with a single, followed by a Callie Billings walk. Ali Naumann singled up the middle in the next at-bat, driving in Gifford while Naumann and Billings advanced to second and third on the throw home. Kennedy Andersen brought Billings home for the Cliff's second run with a ground out to the second baseman.
 
The Lancers scored their first runs in the top of the third. After a pair of singles, a wild pitch and a stolen base, a SAC fly drove in their first run. The next Mount Marty batter made the score 3-2, in favor of the Lancers, with a home run over the short left field fence.

Gifford got the BC bats going in the bottom of the fifth, leading off with a single up the middle. Billings moved her over to scoring position with a SAC bunt, and Naumann tied the game up with an RBI double that scored Gifford.
 
After a scoreless sixth and seventh innings, the Chargers and Lancers went to extra innings and would remain knotted at three apiece until the 12th inning. The Chargers had chances to walk-off in the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to find the timely hits as they left two runners on base in each frame.
 
A two-out single in the top of the 12th scored the game-winning run for the Lancers, as BC went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
 
Duncan threw all 12.0 innings for the Chargers, allowing eight hits, four runs and striking out 13. Duncan threw her 20th complete game of the season and her eighth game with 10+ strikeouts.
 
Gifford and Andersen paced the BC bats with three hits each. Gifford scored twice while Andersen had one RBI. Naumann had two hits and the only extra base hit for BC. Karina Cupples stole one base.
 
BC ends the season with a 33-16 overall record and a 14-8 conference mark.