Game 3 Box Score

DETROIT -- With a single in Sunday afternoon's season finale, junior Rachel Copple (Dearborn Heights, MI/Cabrini) finished the year topping all Titans with a .317 average as the Detroit (7-37, 2-20 Horizon League) softball season came to a close with a 2-0 loss to Loyola (26-24, 16-7 Horizon League).

After three straight singles in the top of the second inning, the visiting Ramblers took a 1-0 lead.

In the Titan sixth inning, a walk to junior Renee Zaccagni (Macomb, MI/Dakota) and a sacrifice bunt from freshman Alyssa Gietl (Plymouth, MI/Ladywood) put a runner in scoring position for freshman Katelyn Steffel (Defiance, OH/Defiance) who hit a short fly ball to right field that dropped in for a single moving Zaccagni to third base. In a one-run game and the Horizon League regular season title on the line for Loyola, the road team made a pitching change that resulted in a foul out and a ground out ending the Titan rally with the Ramblers still on top by one.

In the top of the seventh, Loyola added one insurance run to make it 2-0 with one final chance for Detroit.

The Titans were looking for a big comeback to end the season and it started out with a hard-struck ground out to the shortstop before freshman Erin Huddleston (Normal, IL/Normal West) placed a single through the left side of the infield to bring the tying run to the plate. However, the 2011 softball campaign was brought to a close with a pair of strikeouts ending all rally attempts.

Copple's leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth gave her a team-best 38 hits on the season. She also led the Titans in runs with 19 and was part of a three-way tie for the Detroit lead in doubles as freshman Sara Cupp (Hartland, MI/Milford), junior Whitney Stratton (Muskegon, MI/Fruitport), and Copple all had seven on the year.

Looking back on the season, four of Detroit's wins came in Florida, including a big-time comeback 10-9 win over South Dakota on March 8 that saw the Titans score eight runs in the bottom of the seventh after being down 8-2 heading into the inning.

Detroit's final two wins of the year came in a doubleheader sweep over last year's Horizon League champion Wright State on Apr. 30. The Raiders came to Buysse Ballpark and the Titans managed two walk-off wins with an opposing error and a long single with the bases loaded bringing in the final runs in those contests.

Huddleston led Detroit in Horizon League games with a .309 finishing with 17 hits and also finished six home runs and 20 RBI to lead the team on the season. Zaccagni and Steffel each had eight walks to lead the Titans in conference match-ups while Zaccagni's 18 walks on the year led Detroit.