Box Score Columbia, Mo. - The Cougar Softball team fell to William Woods University in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Tournament Championship Game on Friday afternoon. Columbia (30-16) defeated Park University 6-2 in their first tournament game of the day before falling to William Woods in the title game by a score of 6-0. As the tournament runner-up, the Cougars earn the conference's second bid to the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament.
 After a scoreless first inning between Columbia and Park in game one, Taylor Atwood led off the top of the second with a double down the left field line and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Whitni Howell for a 1-0 Cougar lead. Columbia added two more runs in the third on an RBI double by Jamie Holmes and a sac fly by Carly Spalding. The Cougars extended their lead out to 6-0 in the fourth as Brittiany Tjarks launched her team-leading seventh home run, a three-run blast to center to bring home Howell and Lauren McCroskie. The Pirates were able to get on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth against Columbia starter Amber Boehme to cut the deficit to 6-2. Paxton Welch would relieve Boehme with two outs in the inning and retire Callie Beaver to end the Park rally. Welch would set the Pirates down in order in the bottom of the seventh to cap off the win and send the Cougars to the championship game to face top seed William Woods.
 
Boehme allowed two hits on seven hits over 5.2 innings to pick up her team-leading seventh win of the year. Holmes led the Columbia offense with two hits, while Tjarks added a team-high three RBI. 
 
William Woods took control of the second game of the day with four runs on three hits in the first inning against Cougar starting pitcher Lauren McCroskie, who was relieved by Welch with two outs in the frame. The Owls would add runs in the fourth and fifth innings to stretch their lead out to 6-0, more than enough run support for starter MacKenzie Bowden, who limited Columbia to just four hits over seven shutout innings while striking out five. Shelby LeCuru had two of William Woods' eight hits in the contest and Caroline Sicht contributed two RBI.
 
Following Friday's championship game, members of the All-AMC team were announced in addition to the league's individual award winners. Columbia's Taylor Atwood and Brittiany Tjarks were named to the honorable mention team, while Kristin Eiken, Marli Hayes, and Jamie Holmes were each selected to the All-AMC First Team. Holmes was also named the American Midwest Conference Player of the Year. For the complete list of award winners, visit www.amcsportsonline.com.
 
The Cougars will be idle until the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round, which will take place from May 12^th - 14^th. All games will be played at Antimi Black Field in Columbia. The national qualifiers for each opening round regional bracket will be announced on Tuesday, May 6^th.