McMINNVILE, Ore. – Another unforgettable year for the No. 11th-ranked Bethel University softball team came to an end Saturday afternoon as the Royals dropped another 1-0 pitcher's duel at No. 4 Linfield in game two of the NCAA Super Regionals.
 
The Royals finished the year 36-5, one win shy of the single-season record, while the .878 winning percentage is the best in program history.
 
Bethel found themselves on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel once again as Linfield plated the game's only run in the top of the fifth. With a runner at second and one away, the Wildcats notched a bloop single into left, just over the head of Autumn Earney, scoring a run as the throw to home was cut off.
 
The Royals had their chances with runners aboard in the third with a walk to C. Hokanson and a single to left by Jordyn Rudolph, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the Royals' threat.
 
Mikaela Girard tried to spark a rally with a leadoff single to right before Linfield's Tayah Kelley (33-1) recorded a strikeout, flyout, strikeout to end it.
 
Kayla Simacek finishes the year 34-5 in the circle, a win shy of the single-season record, and after striking out five today she ends with a single-season record 355 Ks.
 
The Royals had played exceptional defense all day starting with a heck of a snag at third by Kayla Hokanson on a sharp liner ending the top of the first. Cortney Hokanson caught a stealing Wildcat in the fourth and Lexi DeBace put BU in the dugout with an incredible diving snag in the seventh.
 
Playing in her final game as a Royal after six seasons, Allie Fauth-Kilgore goes down as Bethel's all-time stolen bases leader with 141 and ranks 11th all-time in Division III.

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