Simon Fraser University finished second overall in women's softball this season.
The second-year NCAA Division II Clan split its final Great Northwest conference regular-season games to finish behind first-place Montana State on Saturday.
Two days earlier, SFU scored a pair of thrilling comeback victories at home over Western Oregon to keep its championship hopes alive.
The Clan defeated Montana State 19-11 but dropped the late game 8-3 to finish a game behind the Yellowjackets.
"I'm incredibly proud of our athletes," said Clan head coach Mike Renney, in a school press release. "No one expected us to be here in one game, winner-take-all situation. Everyone did what they had to get us to this point and at the end of the day we just ran out of gas."
SFU moved into a tie with Montana State with the opening win as both teams combined for 24 hits in the three-hour match.
Cara Lukawesky got the win, pitching all seven innings for her conference-leading 20th win of the season. Senior Leah Rimske clubbed her second grand-slam home run in as many games to give SFU a 7-1 lead after two innings. The Clan continued its hot batting with six runs in the third and five more in the seventh.
In the second game, Riske smashed her ninth dinger of the year to give SFU an early 2-0 lead. But the Clan struggled generating runs the rest of the way, allowing Montana State to steal the conference title by one game.
Kelsie Hawkins took the loss, allowing eight runs on 10 hits. SFU finished the conference season with a 24-12 record.
On April 26, SFU swept its seniors' day doubleheader in history-making fashion.
The Clan came back to defeat Western Oregon 4-3 and 10-9 to keep its championship hopes alive.
"It was the biggest comeback victory in the history of SFU softball and to do it on seniors' day is a great way to finish the home careers for four outstanding seniors, (including Megan Durrant and Brittany Ribeiro of Burnaby)," said Renney.
Down 9-0 in the second game, Burnaby senior Kelsey Haberl knocked in a grand-slam home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cap an eight-run inning.
In the seventh inning, Rosie Murphy led off with a one-out single and advanced to second when Carly Lepoutre was hit by a pitch.
Trisha Bouchard then stepped up to the plate and hit a line drive to the wall in left-centre field to score the two baserunners. Lukawesky came on in the seventh inning to register the win, improving her season record to 19-6.
Lukawesky got the victory in the opener as well, allowing just four hits and three unearned runs.
After a Western Oregon three-run fifth, Riske hit her third walk-off home run of the season, capping a four-run seventh inning for SFU.
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Lauren Mew was named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-academic team on April 25.
The junior Clan softball infielder has a 3.39 grade point average in business administration. It was Mew's second all-academic nomination.
