Box Score Columbia, Mo. - The Cougar Softball team was unable to hold down a potent Central Methodist University offense on Monday afternoon as the Eagles pulled away for a 12-2 five inning victory in the Columbia bracket's first game of the 2014 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. The Cougars, the No. 3 seed in the bracket, drop to 30-17 on the season with the loss.
 
The Cougars struck for a pair of runs in the first inning against Heart of America Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Aubrey Utley as Marli Hayes delivered an RBI double and came around to score on a throwing error by the Eagles. The Central Methodist offense threatened to produce a big inning of their own in the bottom of the first against Columbia starter Taylor Richter. The Eagles would load the bases with two outs after Richter's third walk of the inning, but the senior would battle back to strike out Megan Robbins to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. After a scoreless top of the second for the Cougars, CMU took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the frame against Richter and reliever Amber Boehme. The Eagles extended their lead out to 9-2 with a run in the third and five in the fourth against four different Columbia pitchers. Central Methodist would plate three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cap off the ten-run victory and improve to 42-6 on the season.
 
Utley (25-1) allowed two unearned runs in five innings and struck out four to pick up the win for the Eagles, who finished with 11 hits in the game. Lindie Adair had two hits and four RBI in the contest, including the game-ending three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. Richter (4-4) took the loss in the circle for the Cougars, who were held to four hits on the afternoon.  
 
The Cougars will continue play tomorrow with an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. against the loser of No. 1 seed LSU-Alexandria and No. 4 seed Morningside (Iowa) College. The winner of the LSUA-Morningside game will advance to play Central Methodist at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. There will also be an elimination game at 4:00 p.m. between the loser of the 11:00 a.m. game and the winner of the 1:30 p.m. contest. All games will be held at Columbia's Antimi Black Softball Field. For the complete tournament bracket and latest results, visit this link.