PITTSBURG - The historic season by the Pittsburg State University softball team came to a close in the Central Region championship game in a 9-2 loss to Augustana (S.D.) University Saturday (May 11) at the PSU Softball Complex.

The Vikings (48-13) started quickly with two runs in the first inning before the Gorillas (53-8) got one back in the bottom half of the inning to slash the lead in half. In the second inning, a Hannah Burnett sacrifice fly scored Sophia Driver to tie it up 2-2. That scoreline would stay the same until the pivotal fourth inning when Augie struck for five runs to break the game open. The Vikings tacked on two more run in the seventh to claim the Pittsburg sub regional win and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional next week.

Heather Arnett paced the Gorillas at the plate, going 3-for-4 from her leadoff spot. Ava Sarwinski also went 2-for-2 in the game. Hannah Martin struck out two in 3.0 innings of relief work in the circle and Chleasea Beville fanned five in 3.1 innings.

Notes:
The 2024 team broke nine records over the course of the season: wins in a season (53), season winning percentage (.869, 53-8), most consecutive wins (22, Feb. 24 - Mar. 22, 2024), wins at home (26), consecutive wins at home (26, Apr. 22, 2023 – May 10, 2023), strikeouts pitched (399), runs scored (394), Runs Batted In (346) and stolen bases (104).

Claimed a share of the MIAA regular season crown for the second time in program history (1994), made it to the MIAA Tournament championship game for the fifth time in program history (1992-95 & 2024) and embarked on the team's fifth NCAA Division II National Tournament (1993-95, 2017 & 2024) while hosting for the first time in program history. The Gorillas claimed the MIAA Coaching Staff of the Year (Jenny Fuller, Brad Fuller, Abby Atkin, Tyler Fuller & Ashton Friend) for the first time in team history, Heather Arnett was named Co-Player of the Year (4th player in PSU history) and Ava Laurent was the Freshman of the Year (7th in PSU history).

Among PSU career ranks four members of the 2024 team have their names added onto statistical Top-10 leader boards. Paxtyn Hayes finishes her career as the Gorillas RBI leader (195) while being second in doubles (58), third in hits (236), fourth in home runs (40), tied for fourth in at bats (672), seventh in slugging percentage (.628) and ninth for runs scored (131). Hannah Martin etched her name in the pitching ranks in several categories, being tied for the program record for saves (6), having the 4th best strikeouts per 7 innings ratio (6.45), the seventh most strikeouts (291) and winning percentage (.635, 33-19) while being tenth in pitching appearances (96). Heather Arnett through two seasons is the career leader in stolen bases at PSU (77) and is tied for ninth in triples (9). Chelsea Beville in her first season as a Gorilla finishes tied for fifth in career saves (5).

Among PSU season ranks six members of the 2024 team have their names added onto statistical Top-10 leader boards. Heather Arnett set records for hits (103), runs scored (73) and stolen bases (51) while also having the second most at bats (227), fourth best batting average (.454) and tied for the fifth most triples (7) in a season. Hannah Burnett in her long season with the Gorillas finished with the second most runs scored (71), fourth best on base percentage (.513) and stolen bases (32), fifth in hits (81) and was ninth in batting average (.426). Ava Laurent wrapped up a historic freshman season in the circle with the best winning percentage in program history (.950, 19-1), the fourth best strikeout per 7 innings ratio (8.32) and was tied for fourth in strikeouts (201). Paxtyn Hayes finished with the third most Runs Batted In (RBI) with 68 and Chelsea Beville set a program record with five saves.

Rewriting the MIAA history books this season, Heather Arnett set a conference record for hits (103) while posting the second best tallies for stolen bases (51) and runs scored (73) in a season. Hannah Burnett finished with 71 runs scored this season, good for the fourth most in conference history and marked the first time teammates scored 70 or more runs in the same year in MIAA history for softball. Paxtyn Hayes finished fifth in MIAA history for career RBI with 196 and this season her 68 RBI were good for the ninth most for a single-season in conference history.