WAVERLY, Iowa - The Coe College softball team secured the American Rivers Conference regular-season championship for the first time since 2018 on Saturday afternoon with a 6-4 victory over #15 Wartburg. The title is the sixth in Coe's history and earns the Kohawks the league's Automatic Qualifier (AQ) to the NCAA DIII Softball Championships. The third and deciding game of the series saw the Kohawks race out to a 3-0 lead after three innings which they stretched to five heading into the bottom of the fifth. In the inning, Wartburg scored four runs to get within one of the lead but Coe added a key insurance run in the top of the seventh and secured the victory. The Kohawks end the regular season at 23-11 overall and 18-6 in the league while the Knights finish at 26-8 and 17-7 in the A-R-C.
 
Coe jumped out to an early lead in the rubber game, as Madi Parson drove in the opening run with a ground out, scoring Kelsey Hora on the play. The contest then went scoreless until the top of the third inning when the Kohawks added two runs to their lead. Natalie Blank reached on a bunt single to start the inning and made her way to third before Hora reached on a walk. After a pop-up got the Knights their first out, Parson struck again. This time, she hit an RBI single to center field which saw Blank score to make it 2-0. Two batters later, Shaylee Dodd recorded a clutch, two-out single, through the left side, allowing Hora to make it 3-0. 
 
Starting pitcher Ellie Thurow continued to cruise in the bottom of the third and fourth innings, retiring the Knights in order in both frames. The offense gave her more breathing room in the top of the fifth as Megan Weber hit a two-run homer which scored Parson and extended the Kohawk lead to 5-0. The insurance proved to be crucial as Wartburg got four in the bottom of the frame, including a three-run bomb from Tarah Wehde which gave the Knights life heading into the sixth. The Kohawks threatened in the top of the sixth inning, putting runners on first and second with two outs before the Knights ended the inning. Thurow came back to the circle after her tough inning and bounced back, sitting down Wartburg in order in the bottom of the inning to send the game to the seventh. Weber, who was Coe's second batter in the frame, gave the Kohawks an extra insurance run, hitting her second home run of the day and her fifth of the season. 
 
Hannah Ausenhus then entered the game in the bottom of the seventh in relief of Thurow as she was in search of her first save of the season. Ausenhus got the first Knight hitter to ground back to her but she issued a walk and a single in the next two batters. Ausenhus worked her way out of trouble and recorded the final two outs with a strikeout and pop out to secure the conference championships for the Kohawks. 
 
Up next: Coe will be back in action next week for the American Rivers Conference tournament in which the top-seeded Kohawks will serve as one of the host schools. 
 
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