ANN ARBOR, Mich. - - The Madonna softball team captured the 2008 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference regular season championship on Sunday with a sweep at Concordia. MU took game one 5-0 and clinched the outright title with a 6-0 win in the night cap. The wins move MU to 30-12-1 on the season and 18-4 in WHAC action. CU ends the season at 2-30, 1-23 in loop play.

GAME ONE
The Crusader scored three runs in the top of the second to open up a 3-0 lead. Danielle Richardson (Flint, Mich.) led off with a double to left and moved up on Ashley Shay’s (Garden City, Mich.) ground out. Richardson scored the first MU run when she came home on a Tara LaMilza (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) bunt single to make it 1-0. LaMilza moved to second on a Kathleen Smiley (Wixom, Mich.) sac bunt and to third on a wild pitch. Kelly Lesko (Trenton, Mich.) gave the Crusaders a 2-0 lead when she doubled LaMilza home on a shot down the left field line. Lesko then came home on a Brittney Scero (Canton, Mich.) single to make it 3-0 after one and a half innings.

The Cardinals got the second and last base runner of the game on their lone hit off of MU starter Jess Irwin (Monroe, Mich.) in the bottom of the second. Irwin left the runner at first using back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.

MU added a single run in the third as Christina Finch (Albion, Mich.) reached on a one-out single and advanced on a wild pitch. Head coach Al White then inserted pinch runner Karen House (Columbiaville, Mich.) and House moved to third on an error by the CU infield that allowed Richardson to be safe at first and put runners at the corners. House came home after Shay’s popped out to the catcher and the CU backstop tried to double Richardson off of first, only to see her throw go wild, allowing House to score and make it 4-0.

Another run in the fifth made it 5-0 MU as Cat Sidor (Livonia, Mich.) extended her hitting streak to 26 games with a lead off single. Tedi Johnston (New Boston, Mich.) moved Sidor up on a sacrifice bunt before Finch scored her on a double to right center for the final MU tally.

Irwin was perfect from the last two outs of the second until the end, striking out 14 cards while allowing just one hit for her 17^th win of the season.  Finch and Scero each had two hits and a RBI in the win while LaMilza and Lesko added an RBI each. Laura Brabaw took the loss for CU, falling to 1-24 on the season.

GAME TWO
After clinching no worse than a shared title with the game one win, the Crusaders left no doubt, taking game two 6-0 to wrap up the undisputed title.

MU got on the board in the top of the first as Scero singled to open the game and Sidor drew a walk. Johnston then singled to load the bases. After Brabaw got Finch out, Richardson popped out to Jenny Johnson behind the plate and none of the Cards covered home, allowing Scero to score and make it 1-0.

Madonna starter Michelle Henning (Toledo, Ohio) allowed a hit in the bottom of the first, but got out of the jam with a pair of ground outs to keep it 1-0 MU.

Concordia’s Brabaw was also on her game in the circle in game two, keeping the Crusader bats in check and her team only behind by a run. That was until the top of the sixth inning when MU scored five times to put the game out of reach.

Finch led off with a single and was then lifted and replaced by House to run. House moved to second on a passed ball and then to third on a single from Richardson. A LaMilza double scored House and Richardson to make it 3-0 MU. Smiley reached on a bunt single to put runners at the corners. After Smiley was cut down trying to steal second, Lesko then reached on a single that was misplayed by the Cardinals’ outfield and allowed Lesko to scamper all the way to third and scored LaMilza to make it 4-0.

Scero then laid down a bunt of her own to score Lesko for a five run lead and it became a 6-0 game after Sidor’s double to left scored Scero for the final MU run.

Irwin – who came into the game in relief of Henning in the fourth – struck out the side in the seventh to pick up her 18^th win of the season and give MU sole possession of first place in the WHAC. The freshman righty struck out six Cards to bring her total for the day to 20, and her season total to 204.

Scero and Richardson each had a pair of hits in the win, while Sidor’s double in the sixth extended her streak to 27 games. Brabaw was again saddled with the loss for CU, falling to 1-25 on the year.

The Crusaders wrap up the regular season with a double header against Cornerstone on Monday. First pitch at University Field is set for 3pm.