No. 2 Baker Falls to No. 5 Grand View, 3-0 in Heart Tournament Elimination Game

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - After ending Friday's outing with a 3-0 shutout victory, No. 2 Baker softball was on the losing end of another shutout in an elimination game on Saturday as the Wildcats fell to No. 5 Grand View, 3-0 in the 2024 Heart Softball Conference Tournament.

With the two teams combining for just four runs in both of their regular-season matchups, the offensive chess match carried over to the conference tournament as BU starter Breana Barchak went toe-to-toe with the Vikings' first team all-conference pitcher in Jessica Walljasper.

Walljasper stymied the Baker lineup all game long, allowing just one hit and tallying seven strikeouts along the way. All of her strikeouts came against a different player with seven of the nine BU hitters whiffing once in the game.

The only Wildcat to get on as a baserunner against Walljasper was Bailey Shuman, who broke up the no-hitter in the fourth with a one-out single before going on to reach on an error to lead off the seventh.

Meanwhile, Barchak did her best to keep the Wildcats in it with a GVU RBI single in the fourth serving as the only discrepancy between her and Walljasper through the first five innings. She finished her day by going 5.2 innings with six hits allowed and three strikeouts before turning things over to Kira Baker, who came in for the final inning-plus in her 26th appearance of the season.

The Vikings had half of their hits come in the top of the sixth where they added a pair of insurance runs for Walljasper to have for the final couple of battles. After Barchak fanned the first batter of the frame, GVU used three straight hits, including an RBI double, to push its lead out to 3-0.

Needing a seventh-inning rally to keep their tournament hopes alive, Shuman eventually made it into scoring position after moving up to second on Riley Phillips' at-bat. She would stay stranded there though as the Vikings got a groundout to close out their victory and knock BU out of the tournament.

Following their time in Cedar Rapids, Baker sits at 33-14 overall and will await its postseason fate for the 2024 NAIA Softball National Tournament with the Selection Show set for today, May 7 at 4 p.m. The Selection Show will be streamed on YouTube.

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