GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The Gator softball team saw its 2015 season come to a close with a 4-1 defeat to Denison in the elimination game of the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.

With the loss, the Gators end the season in fourth place in the NCAC, with a 14-15-1 overall record.

A pair of lapses by the Allegheny defense helped lead to three Denison runs, while Big Red freshman pitcher Sarah Herold kept the Allegheny offense at bay, as she allowed just four hits while recording eight strikeouts.

The Big Red struck first, using a double and three bloop singles to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second.  Denison took advantage of a Gator error to plate an unearned run in the third, before closing the scoring out in the fourth with a run on three hits.

Herold used an effective mix of off-speed pitches to keep the Gator bats silent through the first six innings, allowing just three baserunners in the span, on singles from freshmen Jaricka Simmerman and Jessica Zavolta, and sophomore Belle Mazurik.

Trailing by four entering the top of the seventh, senior Sadie Stuart ended her career in fine fashion, with her last collegiate swing resulting in a mammoth home run to straightaway centerfield.  While it marked the lone run for the Gators, it was Stuart's 22nd career home run, good for third in program history.

Senior Caitlin Nealer worked all six innings in the circle, allowing three earned runs while striking out five.  Like her classmate, Nealer also ended with a bang, striking out the final batter she faced.  Nealer wraps up her four-year career with her name all over the Gator record books.  The 2012 NCAC Pitcher of the Year and three-time All-NCAC selection will graduate ranked first in team history in both games started (96) and innings pitched (701), second in strikeouts (767) and complete games (84), and third in both wins (67) and shutouts (19).

Denison moves on to face Wittenberg on Saturday afternoon in the second elimination game of the tournament, with the winner set to take on top-seeded DePauw in the NCAC title game at 1 p.m.

The game marked the final in the four-year careers of Nealer, Stuart, Leah Herlocker, and Shannen Segiel, a senior class that helped the Gators make three NCAC tournament appearances and win the 2013 conference tourney, while also winning the 2012 NCAC regular season title.