CHICAGO, ILL. -- Junior Kristin Gutierrez retired the final two batters she faced with the winning run on base in the bottom of the seventh inning to help Butler post a 5-4 victory over DePaul in the final regular season game for both teams on Sunday, May 3.   

The win over the BIG EAST runner-up Blue Demons turned out to be a consolation prize for the Bulldogs.  Earlier in the day, Villanova defeated league regular season champ St. John's, 3-0, to earn the final berth in the upcoming BIG EAST Softball Championship.  Butler and Villanova finished in a tie for fourth place in the final league standings with 9-12 records, but the Wildcats held the tie-breaker with a series' win over the Bulldogs earlier this season.

Gutierrez closed out the 2015 campaign with a gritty performance.  She tossed her second complete game in two days and her 17th complete game of the season.  The Butler left-hander allowed eight hits in the distance performance, and came through with two big pitches with the game on the line in the final inning.

DePaul (22-23, 13-4 BIG EAST), trailing 5-3, mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh inning.  Nicole Pihl started the inning with a walk and advanced to second on an infield single by Micah Fitzgerald.  A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, and Pihl scored DePaul's fourth run on a single to left field by Staci Bonezek.

Gutierrez then retired Sabrina Kuchta on a ground ball to third baseman Alyssa Lach, keeping the tying run at third.  And with both runners in scoring position, the Butler pitcher ended the game by getting Brittany Boesel on a ground out to catcher Chelsea Norwood.

DePaul jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the Bulldogs came back to tie the contest on a two-run, home run by Brandyce Sallee.  It was the eighth home run of the year for the Butler sophomore.

Sallee then helped the Bulldogs take the lead for good with a two-run double in the top of the fourth inning.  The drive to centerfield capped a three-run rally, that started with a double by Riley Carter and a run-scoring single by Sarah Gronowski.  The double was Sallee's 16th of the season, tying the Butler single season record set by Bridget Paine in 2010.

The Blue Demons added a single run in the bottom of the fourth.

Sallee led Butler's offense with two hits, one run scored and four RBIs.  Gutierrez finished the season with a 13-13 record.

Butler closed out the 2015 season with a 24-27 final record, narrowly missing the BIG EAST Championship for the second consecutive year.