Columbia, Mo. - The No. 6 seeded Columbia College softball team captured the American Midwest Conference Championship this afternoon, as the Cougars defeated the No. 2 seed Park University Pirates 2-0. With the win, Columbia improves their record to 29-16 overall.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning as sophomore
Carly Spalding ripped a shot over the right field fence to put the Cougars up 1-0. Columbia would plate their second run of the game in the same inning as
Allyson Metz reached base on a walk and scored on an RBI single to deep right-center by
Jessica Hardy.
The Pirates would challenge the Cougars as they put runners on first and second in the fourth and fifth inning, but Columbia stayed calm and collected as they worked their way out of the jam both times. Again, in the bottom of the seventh, Parks' Britanee Willard and Callie Beaver hit back-to-back singles to give the Pirates some hope, but starting pitcher
Paxton Welch would cause the last batter to groundout as the Cougars pulled away with the championship victory.
Sophomore, Paxton Welch went the distance on the mound, allowing seven hits and struck out one batter to pick up her 15
th win on the season. The Cougars had seven hits in the game, with
Tylin Stephens totaling a game-high three hits. Hardy had two hits on the day while Spalding and
Julianna Waldner each had one hit apiece.
At the conclusion of the game an all-conference team was announced. Spalding and freshman
Allyson Metz were named first team all-conference while freshmanÂ
Tylin Stephens took home honorable mention honors. Spalding also collected AMC Player of the Year accolades after having an outstanding season.
The Cougars will now play the waiting game and see where they will head for the NAIA Opening Round, which is set to begin on May 11
th, as the NAIA will announce on Thursday May 7
th the opening round pairings. Â
Fans stay updated on www.columbiacougars next week for a full preview of where and who the Cougars will be playing in the NAIA Opening Round.
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