SYLVANIA, Ohio – The Lourdes softball team (10-17, 7-11 in WHAC) won two out of six games last week to stay alive for a spot in the conference tournament.

The penultimate week pushed the Gray Wolves from their stronghold as the No. 7 seed down to ninth place in the WHAC standings. At 7-11, the Gray Wolves are one game back from Aquinas and Defiance for the last two spots in the conference tournament.

The tournament clinching scenario for Lourdes is that they must win both games against Michigan-Dearborn on Monday afternoon to clinch the No. 7 seed. If they split with Michigan-Dearborn, they will end in a three-way tie with the Saints and Yellow Jackets; a tiebreaker that the Gray Wolves will lose because of their early season losses to Defiance. Anything other than a sweep of UMD will make Lourdes remain as the No. 9 seed, and barely out of the conference tournament.

The reason Lourdes remains alive for postseason contention in this rollercoaster of a season is two clutch victories against Aquinas and UNOH last week.

Lourdes went on the road to Grand Rapids on Apr. 12 to take on Aquinas, and beat the Saints 5-3 in a closely contested battle.

Sophomore Cassi Kieper earned her fourth victory of the season in the win over Aquinas, throwing an efficient 78-pitch complete game with two earned runs and six hits allowed.

Offensively, Lourdes got off to a red hot start with a Karlei Conard RBI-double in the second inning and a four-run third inning with RBI hits from Liv Hussar, Skylar Mitchell, Olivia Rompf, and Lindsey McGann. The five runs were more than enough to hold off the Aquinas late-game comeback as Lourdes pulled away with a two-run victory.

Game two against Aquinas was a different story with a seven-run loss due to a fifth inning offensive explosion by the Saints.

However, Lourdes immediately got back on track with an incredible performance at home against UNOH on Saturday under the lights. The win was extra special as it came on the last day Lourdes softball would play on their home turf.

Nearly 200 Gray Wolves fans packed the bleachers as senior ace Mallori Bradley threw an absolute gem to upset the Racers. Bradley gave up just five hits and one earned run in a 90-pitch complete game. The Zanesville, Ohio native also struck out five UNOH batters while not allowing a single free pass.

Taylor Leggins had a fantastic day at the plate, starting the scoring off with an RBI single in the first, and then later hitting a three-run home run in the fourth inning to put the game away. Lourdes cruised to a 6-1 game one victory over the Racers as they went two games up on Aquinas for the final spot in the WHAC Tournament.

However, three straight losses to UNOH and nationally 3^rd-ranked Madonna to end the week pushed Lourdes out of the top-8 in the WHAC.

Lourdes will look to extend their season this afternoon against Michigan-Dearborn as the Gray Wolves need two victories to leapfrog Defiance and Aquinas.