Two runs in the bottom of the seventh and another in the bottom of the ninth led Wittenberg to a 6-5 victory over the Denison Big Red in the opening game of the 2016 North Coast Athletic Conference Softball Tournament.  Later in the day, Denison fell to the DePauw Tigers, 4-1, resulting in elimination from the tournament.

Against Wittenberg, the Big Red broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth when Kerry Hager opened up the inning by reaching on an error by the third baseman.  Katie Nichols followed with a single through the left side of the infield, moving Hager to second.  Ryan Lee's attempted sacrifice resulted in a fielder's choice, loading the bases with no outs.  Lauren Secaras reached first on an error by the shortstop, but Wittenberg pitcher Chelsea Zang dug in by getting Amanda Howell to foul out before inducing a 5-3 double play to end the inning.

In the fifth, Denison's 2-0 lead ballooned to 5-0 after three more Tiger errors allowed three runs to cross the plate.  Ryan Lee's two-run single down the line in left field scored Hager and Mckinly Vazquez.

Wittenberg scored once in the fifth when Loren Combs singled to left, scoring Courtney Lopez.  In the sixth, Wittenberg got back into the game with two runs off three hits.  They also managed to knock DU starter Colleen Hoffman out of the game with one out and a runner on third.  Erin Laswell entered and worked out of the jam by striking out Kaela Hughes and forcing Lauren Buelow to pop out to short.

DU held a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the seventh but a lead-off walk by Combs set the table.  With one out, Katy Baumgartner reached on an error.  Casey Hobbs followed with a game-tying two-run double to right, forcing extra innings.

In the ninth, Combs started things with 12-pitch walk to open the inning.  She promptly stole second, to get into scoring position.  A sacrifice bunt attempt by Shannon Lance was misplayed by the DU defense, allowing Combs to slide headfirst into home for the winning run.

Laswell took the loss in 2.2 innings of relief.  She allowed one hit and one earned run while walking two.  Hoffman pitched the first 5.1 innings, scattering six hits while striking out four.  She was tagged with three runs, all of which were earned.

The elimination game between Denison and DePauw had a late start (6:54 p.m.) and the Big Red were still without the team's leading hitter and top pitcher, Sarah Herold who was out with an injury.  Secaras got the start in the circle, as she pitched 2.1 innings, allowing three earned runs.  

DePauw took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but Denison scored a run in the third after Nichols' base hit scored Maddie Crull.  The Big Red proceeded to leave two runners on base in each of the next three innings.  The stranded runners caught up to Denison as the Tigers pitching, led by Emma Baldwin, kept the Big Red off the scoreboard.

The loss ends Denison's season with a record of 22-16.  DePauw stays alive in tournament play while moving to 27-15.