The Central College (Iowa) batters made it a rough day for starting pitcher Kendra Bowe as she surrendered five runs in nearly three innings in the St. Thomas softball team’s five-inning, 9-1 loss Saturday at the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament.

The loss snapped the Tommies’ 28-game winning streak.

After a strong performance in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Tommies struggled against the Dutch. Despite allowing two hits and not allowing runners to advance into scoring position yesterday against Washington University-St. Louis, the St. Thomas defense came out flat in the regional semifinal.

“Our pitcher didn’t execute very well,” coach John Tschida said of his team’s defensive performance. “The day before (Bowe) was great at executing, and today, she was all over the place. It was a matter of pitchers executing pitches that made the difference.”

Tschida said the defense didn’t have its best performance either.

“On defense, we made some mistakes. We didn’t help our pitcher out by executing,” Tschida said.

St. Thomas began the game strong and looked to take control early. Shortstop Jenna Hoffman was able to get on base in the first at-bat of the game and stole second base moments later.

Second baseman Kimmy Hassel followed with a base hit to the outfield, which moved Hoffman to third base and allowed Hassel to safely take second base. With two runners in scoring position, the Dutch chose to intentionally walk catcher Emily Gregory, who had five RBIs in the Tommies’ previous game.

St. Thomas eventually got a run on the board when right fielder McKenzie Wergin drove Hoffman home with a sacrifice fly. However, that was the only run the Tommies would score in that inning and the rest of the game.

Tschida credited Central’s starting pitcher, Mallory Schulenberg, with giving the St. Thomas batters a tough day at the plate.

“(Schulenberg) threw a really good game. She’s a very good pitcher,” Tschida said.

Hassel echoed her coach’s assessment of Central’s pitching performance.

“At the plate, (Schulenberg) pitched a really good game … we just have to get more hits,” Hassel said. “They put up runs, but we only put up one, so we can’t really complain about that.”

St. Thomas’ struggles continued on the defensive side as the Tommies allowed 11 hits, committed five errors and conceded nine runs in only five innings of play. Starting pitcher Bowe allowed five runs in about two innings of work, and she was pulled in favor of reliever Brianna Bannon.

“We just got a little jumpy out there. We haven’t really been put in many pressure situations lately … so I think being put in that just kind of took us out of our element,” Hoffman said. “We were just a little too riled up.”

Despite suffering their first loss in the NCAA regional championship, the team looks forward to its upcoming games in the double elimination tournament.

“From now on out we have to win. It’s just keep hitting, keep playing how we know we can play, and we’ll make it there,” Hoffman said.

Tschida said his team is prepared to move on from the loss and use it as a learning experience for future games.

“Our sport is based on failure, and our practices are based on failure,” Tschida said. “The idea is that we want to put (our players) in situations where it’s hard and difficult and we’re not going to be successful all the time. So we’re kind of used to that. That’s kind of the mentality. It’s about what you learn.”

St. Thomas will play in the elimination bracket of the NCAA regional championship at noon Sunday against the winner of Coe College (Iowa) and Augustana College (Ill.) for a bid in the regional final against Central College.

Jacob Sevening can be reached at seve8586@stthomas.edu.