photo by: Contributed photo/Baker Athletics

The Baker University softball team won its first regular season championship since 1982 with a sweep of No. 18 Grand View.

For the first time in 37 years, the Baker softball team has won the Heart of America Conference.

No. 19 Baker swept No. 18 Grand View Sunday afternoon, clinching its first conference crown since 1982. The Wildcats claimed an 8-0 win in the first game and netted a 9-1 victory in the second game.

The Wildcats finished the regular season with an overall record of 41-7, including 30-4 in conference action.

“To see this team come full circle and finish what they started is so special,” head coach Jamie Stanclift said in a team release. “We have phenomenal senior leadership and they have been in it for the long haul. They led us to being the team that could finish the job, execute and become champions.”

In the first game, sophomore catcher Makayla Stromenger led the way with three hits and a pair of RBIs in four at-bats. Junior Jazzmine Thorpe, sophomore Briele Rees and freshman Mackenzie Chinn all notched multi-hit efforts, helping Baker score four runs in the first two frames. Senior Olivia Brees tossed five scoreless frames, allowing just one hit to go along with 11 strikeouts and one walk.

Thorpe and senior Megan Porche each collected three hits and one RBI in the second game to lead the Wildcats. Stromenger and Rees both collected a pair of hits. Brees allowed one run off three hits over five innings, striking out seven batters.

The Wildcats have now earned the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming conference tournament this week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and have earned an automatic bid into the 2019 NAIA Softball National Championship opening round.

“I am so proud of these ladies,” Stanclift said. “They have earned it and deserve every single piece of this success.”

It is a sign of the growth Baker has made since Stanclift, who graduated from Free State High School, took over the program five years ago.

In 2015, the Wildcats won 13 games and didn’t make the conference tournament. They went 26-28 in 2016, missing the league tourney again. Baker improved to 27-26 in 2017, which gifted the program a berth in the conference tournament.

Last season, BU posted a 41-16 clip en route to notching an appearance in the national tournament. This year, the team’s most recent hardware is proof that Baker has hit another level.

And the Wildcats don’t appear to be done yet.