HILLSBORO, Kan. - The Tabor College Softball Team's season came to a close Thursday as the Lady Jays fell to fourth seeded Southwestern College and ninth seeded Kansas Wesleyan University in the double-elimination KCAC Conference Softball Tournament hosted by Tabor College at the Hillsboro Sports Complex, in Hillsboro, Kan.

Against Southwestern College seven innings was not enough as both teams battled through 12 innings before the Moundbuilders pushed the game-winning run across in the bottom of the 12^th to earn the 4-3 victory.

Tabor which trailed 2-1 after four innings of play took its first and only lead of the game in the top of the fifth as the Bluejays scored twice to make the score 3-2. The lead however would be short lived as Southwestern would tie the score at 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning and reclaim the lead in the 12^th inning to earn the victory. 

Freshman Taylor Funk (Wichita, Kan.) led the Bluejays offensively as she went 3-5 from the plate with a run scored, while junior Margaret Cornish (Roeland, Park, Kan.) and freshman Roxanne Rodriguez (McAllen, Texas) each added two hits in the game. 

Rodriguez also got the start and went the distance for the Bluejays as she pitched 11 and two thirds innings allowing no earned runs on eight hits while striking out 12. All seven runs scored in the game were unearned by both teams as well.

In game two on Thursday Tabor appeared to run out of gas after its 12 inning marathon earlier in the day falling to Kansas Wesleyan University 7-1. 

After falling behind 3-0 after the first half inning of play Tabor got on the board with a run in the bottom of the second inning to cut the Coyotes lead to 3-1. Kansas Wesleyan however would answer back with two more runs in the third and the sixth innings to extend its lead to six and earned the victory. 

Tabor was led offensively by Rodriguez who went 1-2 from the plate with an RBI, while senior Ashley Cohlmia (Wichita, Kan.) sophomore Rae'Shon Johnson (Adelanto, Calif.) and Funk each added a hit for the game.

Freshman Katelin Thompson (Laredo, Texas) got the start and pitched three innings allowing four earned runs on six hits while striking out two. 

"We displayed a lot of growth as a program this year," said Head Softball Coach John Bassett. "Growing sometimes includes some growing pains and we went through some. We have a really solid core to build on for the coming years and we have another excellent recruiting class coming in next year. 

"In 2008, we won 1 game, in 2009, we won six games, this year we won 16 and finished in fifth place in the conference.Our win total is growing exponentially and next year we'll set the bar even higher," added Bassett.

I'm really proud of the way our very young team competed all year long. We started 5-6 freshmen most of the year and it is a challenge to compete against teams fielding mostly juniors and seniors. But we did compete all year long, and next year we will take the next step and win a lot of these close ball games."