NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – A pair of nip-and-tuck battles between visiting Rose-Hulman and host Manchester University went down to the final at-bats in each instance Sunday, April 26.

After the Fightin' Engineers (20-12 overall, 6-8 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference) broke up a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh in game one with an RBI single just inside the bag at third base from designated player Gabbi Markison that led to a 2-1 decision, the Spartans (16-15 overall, 9-7 conference) were able to notch their fourth postseason conference tournament berth in the last six years, when freshman pinch runner Allyson Brown (Plymouth, Ind.) scurried home on a wild pitch to unlock a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh of the nightcap for a 3-2 win.

"We knew we had a chance with the way (senior and sophomore starting pitchers) Anna (Schillinger) and Ashlea (Nash) were pitching … they were really good all day," head coach Josh Dzurick said. "We just had to get our bats to come around."

Trailing 2-0 going into the home half of the fifth, a one-out walk to junior outfielder Ashley Stahl (Wheatland, Ind.) and a single by junior third baseman Jessica Chorak (Hammond, Ind.) got runners on for the home team. After a fielder's choice and wild pitch put them on second and third with two outs, enter sophomore pinch hitter Emilee Liston (Cicero, Ind.). Liston got a pitch to her liking and ripped it up the middle, just past Heibel's glove, scoring two runs for a 2-2 tie.

"We really like what we see (from Emilee)," Dzurick noted. "She's made the most of her opportunities and did so again in that spot."

After Nash relieved Schillinger in the top of the sixth in the wake of a five-strikeout, five-and-a-third inning effort, she danced out of runner-on-base trouble in the sixth and seventh in route to her 12^th win. She opened her final league appearance at Spartan Field with a seven-strikeout effort in game one.

MU takes the third seed into the 2015 conference tournament Friday, May 1. The Black and Gold face off against second-seeded Bluffton University at 10 a.m. at Anderson University's Raven Softball Field.

NOTES: Chorak and senior outfielder Shannon Stephan (Granger, Ind.), who joined Nash and shortstop Emily Willmann (Montpelier, Ind.) in being honored prior to first pitch as members of the program's Class of 2015, led the offense over the two games. They each tallied two hits with Chorak's both coming in the second game including a triple in the bottom of the seventh that was the eventual winning run.