Softball: SE, ASU both advance to regional championship game
Southeastern Oklahoma and Angelo State each punched tickets for their respective championship games as NCAA Division II South Central Regional action continued on Saturday.
In Durant, SE advanced to the title game at 1 p.m. on Sunday with a 4-3 victory over Abilene Christian. The Savage Storm will play Missouri Western after the Griffons eliminated ACU with an 11-2 win.
ASU went nine innings with Emporia State before prevailing 13-12 in an offensive showdown. The Rambelles will play in the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday against Nebraska-Omaha.
The winner of each region will advance to the Super Regional three-game series next weekend at the site of the highest remaining seed.
SE 4, ACU 3
A solo home run by Southeastern's Bailey Mathes in the bottom of the fifth inning was the difference maker for the Savage Storm in a 4-3 win over ACU.
SE scored a run each in the second, third and fourth innings, but a three-run fifth by the Wildcats evened the score at 3-3, setting up Mathes' go-ahead homer.
Marjorie Johnson picked up her second win of the regional, tossing 2.2 innings in relief, allowing no runs on one hit with eight strikeouts. Jami McAdoo got the start and threw 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out three.
For the Wildcats, Jacque Gregoire took the loss after throwing 5.0 innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits with one strikeout.
Kim Partin tossed the final inning in relief, retiring all three batters she faced.
ASU 13, Emporia State 12 (nine innings)
Alix Dean used a bases-loaded hit in the top of the ninth inning
to lift ASU to a 13-12 win over Emporia State.
The Rambelles scored 12 runs on 19 hits through five innings but
did not record another hit until Dean plated junior Kristen Frye
with a one-out single up the middle. Junior right-hander Chelsea
Nelson (27-4) then capped the victory the bottom of the frame,
striking out Hornet lead-off hitter Angela Mahan to end the
game.
Angelo State freshman Sandy James opened the scoring on the third
pitch of the game with her NCAA D-II leading 25th home run of the
season. The long ball matched the NCAA all division freshman record
for homers, equaling former Alabama star and Olympian Kelly
Kretschman (1998).
Nelson started the contest for the Rambelles but then gave way to
junior April Haywood two batters into the fourth inning before
re-entering to start the seventh. Nelson pitched a total of 6.0
innings and gave up five earned runs on 11 hits with five
strikeouts. Haywood tossed the middle three innings and allowed two
earned runs on two hits.
Missouri Western 11, ACU 2
The 2009 softball season came to a disappointing end for ACU in
an 11-2 loss to Missouri Western. The Griffons took advantage
of four Wildcat errors to eliminate ACU.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start thanks to solo home runs
from Jessica Shiery and Melissa Rodriguez for a 2-0 first-inning
lead. However, a two-out error scored two runs in the top of the
third and the Griffons tied the score. Western's Brittany Douglas
hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the visitors the
lead at 3-2.
From there, the wheels came off for the Wildcats in the sixth;
three errors along with some timely hitting by the Griffons led to
five-run inning putting Western up 8-2. Then in the seventh, the
visitors added three insurance runs to increase the lead to 11-2.
ACU's 43 wins on the season was a school record surpassing the 2006 squad that went 42-19. The Wildcats finished the season at 43-15.
