The No. 2 seed Wright State defeated Cleveland State, 8-3 and 6-3, on Saturday to claim the Horizon League Softball Championship.

The Vikings record-setting season ends with an impressive 44-15 record. This was the sixth time in eight years that Cleveland State played in the title game, winning the championship in 2009.

"This was a very tough day for us," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said on the team's website. "I felt like we were out of sync offensively during the tournament and it really hurt us today.

"We’ve had the ability to battle back and overcome deficits all season long, but today we just didn’t have it. Amanda (Macenko) was throwing well, but Wright State is a great offensive team and they were hitting everything she threw.

The day started with CSU dropping an 8-3 decision in the first meeting with the Raiders. The Vikings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Lia Gordon executed a well-placed bunt, sending home Keystone's Jessica Burt. Katelyn Ciminelli provided the second run as Amy Powell grounded out to the WSU shortstop for the RBI.

Cleveland State took little time regaining the lead as Horizon League Player of the Year Tess Sito, of Elyria, jacked a solo homer to right center, her 18th of season, yielding a 3-2 score.

swalker@MorningJournal.com