The opening four innings of Monday’s Tri-County Conference softball game between Seneca and Marquette were a battle with each team taking turns holding the lead.

But the final two innings were all Fighting Irish.

Seneca plated four runs in the fifth and exploded for eight more in the sixth to eventually record a 16-3 victory in six innings at June Gross Field in Ottawa.

With the win, the Irish improved to 30-1 overall and 15-0 in TCC to clinch the league title.

“Sometimes my teams take on a little my personality and just grind though it,” said Seneca coach Brian Holman when asked about a very subtle celebration from his team after the game. “This was an obvious goal for us and we were excited about it. We’ll celebrate on the bus on the way back home and tomorrow at school. Then we’ll get ready to play this same team again at our place.”

Trailing 3-2, Seneca took the lead for good in the fourth on a two-run, two-out triple by senior catcher Lexie Buis.

“It wasn’t the best hit ball I’ve had this year, but it worked out,” Buis said. “I had two strikes and was just looking to make contact. I was kind of looking for an outside pitch and that’s where it was. I just wish I could have hit it a little harder.”

Buis said despite the low-key postgame reaction, she and her teammates are pumped about the league title.

“I just think our team is just mellow-key,” Buis said. “I mean, we are all excited to win the conference, but we’re just not really the crazy celebration type. This was one of the goals we had, and we were able to accomplish it. Now it’s on tomorrow and let’s see if we can do it again.”

Seneca’s four-run fifth was highlighted by a two-run double by Ameliah Weber, while Graysen Provance and Aurora Weber also drove in runs.

In the eight-run sixth, Marlie Lissy had a two-run single, while Provance, Emma Mino, Hayden Pfeifer and Tessa Krull all had RBIs.

Provance, Mino and Pfeifer each had three hits for Seneca, which finished with 16 in the game.

Pfeifer (3 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 8 K) earned the win in relief of Krull (3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K).

“This was a true team win,” Holman said. “Everyone, starters and the bench, top of the order, bottom of the order, had a hand in it and contributed in some way.

“We’ve talked about this all season; we want to make opposing pitcher really work. We only scored two runs in the first three innings, but we did a great job of getting deep into counts. Our goal is always to push the opposing pitcher close or over 100 pitches.”

Mino smacked a solo home run to dead center in the top of the first off Marquette starter Kinley Rick (5⅓ IP, 12 H, 9 ER, 6 BB, 1 K).

The hosts tied the game in their half of the inning as Hunter Hopkins led off with a single, stole second and came around to score on a base hit by Kelsey Cuchra. The Crusaders plated two runs in the second on an RBI double by Cuchra and a wild pitch.

Seneca scored in the third when Provance singled, went to third on an error and scored on a single by Mino.

Hopkins and Cuchra each had two hits for Marquette (21-6, 11-3), which committed four errors in the final two innings.

“It’s like any game where you are facing a really good opponent, you have to make the plays you’re supposed to make. That didn’t happen for us in the final two innings,” Marquette coach Curtiss Johnson said. “You give a team like Seneca one or two extra outs in an inning, and they more often than not are going to find ways to make you pay for it.

“We played really well overall the first four innings today, even had the lead for a while, but our defense struggled and we struggled at the plate after that.

“I thought we gave great effort all game long, but we just have to be better.”

The two teams meet again on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in Seneca.