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BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - Davenport suffered two nailbiting defeats on Friday at the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament as they saw their 2012 come to abrupt end.  The Panthers fell to eventual champion Madonna 1-0 in 8 innings before dropping a 4-1 decision to Aquinas on a walk off 3-run homerun. DU ends their season with a 35-16-1 overall record.

The career came to a close for five seniors today at the WHAC Tournament played at Bailey Park in Battle Creek, Mich. Davenport lost a 1-0 game in the eighth inning to Madonna to send them to the loser's bracket where they were defeated on a walk off homerun to bring an abrupt end to their season.

Game 1 was a pitchers dual from the very beginning as the teams combined for 14 hits while leaving on a total of 16 runners.  Sam Cole was outstanding pitching out of a few jams as the junior allowed only nine hits and one walk while striking out three Crusaders.  

Her counterpart from Madonna, Hallie Minch, was just a tad better going all eight innings while allowing just five hits and fanning four.  DU did pose some serious threats against the senior hurler but they left two runners on in the third and fourth innings and left them loaded in fifth.

Madonna scored the only run on an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning as Sam Cole suffered just her 10th loss of the year.

That loss sent the Panthers to the loser's bracket where they faced an Aquinas team that had battled its way back in many of their tournament games already to get within one of the championship game.  DU started it off with a lead as Liz Veltman knocked in Amber Getty in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead.

After the Saints got the run back in the second off of DU starter Karlee Despres, the game quickly looked much like the first of the day for Davenport as both pitchers took over.  Each team would get their fair share of chances but the starter for AQ (Carlie Giarmo) and Despres worked out of the jams every time.

After DU went quietly in their at bat in the seventh, Aquinas put the first two runners on in the bottom half thanks to singles to the left side of the infield.  Despres went to rescue work again by getting the next two batters out but  the Saints ended the game soon thereafter with a 3-run homerun to left field to capture the 4-1 win.

The loss dropped Karlee Despres to 12-6 on the year.

Davenport ends their 2012 campaign with an overall record of 35-16-1 and will see the loss of their first recruiting class in school history (Morgan Greenfield, Liz Veltman, Karlee Despres, Katie Cornman and Ali Dawson).