SYLVANIA, Ohio – The DU softball team clinched their fourth-straight Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament title Monday afternoon with a convincing 6-1 win over Lourdes University. The Panthers went a perfect 4-0 in the tournament and outscored their opponents 23-1 to advance their overall record in 2016 to 39-10.

Lourdes took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jamie Newman followed a leadoff triple from Bre Megyesi with a sacrifice fly to left field. This run would snap a streak of 21-straight scoreless innings from the DU pitching staff, but would be the only run the Gray Wolves would push across the plate in the game. Emily Maves (22-4) shut the Lourdes offense down for the remainder of the game and held them to just two more hits while striking out 11 batters to take the win.

Alyssa Eastman and Lindsay Tasma fueled the Panther offense as they combined for six hits and five RBI. Eastman drove in each of the first two runs for the Panthers as she hit RBI singles in the second and fourth innings to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Tasma helped the Panthers break the game wide open in the fifth with a two-run triple to center field that drove in Alyssa Koziol and Carli SanMillan.

Nicole Vitale and Tasma provided DU with a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning to secure their 6-1 win over the Gray Wolves and sweep all four meetings between the two teams on the season. Tasma singled up the middle to drive in SanMillan as she finished her day a perfect 4-for-4. Vitale followed with a single through the left side that scored pinch runner Sam Merren as a part of her 2-for-4 game.

DU Head Coach McCall Salmon commented on her team's championship win, "I couldn't be prouder of our teams' performance today and this entire tournament. We had key run production with two outs and another stellar performance by our defense. Emily Maves really helped put us in position to win our fourth-straight WHAC Tournament title with another great pitching performance on the mound."

The Panthers totaled 13 hits on the day and had four batters record multiple hit games. The Panther defense continued to back up the great pitching performances from the DU staff as they only committed one error over their tournament run. The Panthers will look to continue this momentum into the NAIA Opening Round that they will host at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex and will hear their field of four teams announced tomorrow (5/9) at 7 p.m. on NAIA.org. The Opening Round is set to take place Monday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 19 with the winner advancing to the NAIA Softball World Series in Sioux City, Iowa.