PETERSBURG—The Chowan University softball team suffered a heartbreaking 7-6 defeat to Winston-Salem State University in the championship round of the 2011 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament on Saturday.

The Hawks finished the season with a 34-19 record.

Lacey Wildeboer drove in Liz Hipple with a double in the second inning to give Chowan a 1-0 lead. Winston-Salem added one run in the third inning to knot the score at 1-1. That score would remain until the sixth inning.

In the sixth, Wildeboer knocked in her second run of the game with a single to score Katie Duncan. Tanaya Pettus singled in Madison Brown in the bottom of the sixth to bring the Lady Rams back into a tie. Neither team could manage a run in the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, the Hawks exploded for four runs to open up a 6-2 advantage. Tricia Gorman added two more RBIs to her NCAA-leading tally in the inning.

Winston-Salem would not quit despite being down by four runs. With one out, the team added two runs off a single to close the deficit to 6-4. Chowan committed two errors later in the inning, leading to three Lady Ram runs and the eventual 7-6 loss.

The teams combined for 30 hits, 25 runners left on base and five errors.

Gorman and Fahren Munro were named to the All-Tournament Team. Gorman went 3-5 in the game with two RBIs. She finished the 2011 season with 84 RBIs.

Munro went 1-5 with a run scored.

Wildeboer went 3-4 at the plate, scoring one run to go along with two RBIs and one stolen base.