Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College softball team took the field to begin the best of three series with a doubleheader against the Central Baptist College Mustangs in the 2018 AMC Conference Tournament Championship Round. The Cougars took game one by a final score of 5-2 and game two by a dominating score of 10-0. With the sweep Columbia was crowned AMC Conference Tournament Champions and received an automatic bid to the sixth annual NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. The Cougars improve to 30-14 on the year.
In the first game, neither team was able to get anything going for the first half of the game. In the fourth inning each team was able to get on the board as the game was tied 1-1 going into the fifth. It was not until the sixth inning where the action picked up. Midway through the inning the Mustangs held a 2-1 lead, however, in the bottom of the fourth a hit up the middle from Waldner would allow Myers, Leeper, and Marko to score and give the Cougars the lead 4-2. Columbia picked up one more run to stretch their lead 5-2 going into the final inning. The Cougars held the Mustangs in the last inning to take game one by a score of 5-2.
Molly Carter started on the mound as she allowed six hits, two earned runs, and struck out four batters in her 5.2 innings of play. Kaitlyn Nottelmann would relieve Carter and pick up the win as she allowed just one hit and struck out two batters in her 1.1 innings of work. Offensively, Natalie Dummitt went 1-3 with one run scored, Karli Leeper went 2-3 with one run scored and one RBI, Libby Marko was 1-2 with one run scored, and Julianna Waldner went 1-1 with one run scored and two RBI's.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Cougars momentum carried them through as they rattled off eight runs in the top of the second, including a three run homerun off the bat of Dummitt. Columbia was able to add another run in the fourth and another in the fifth as they held the Mustangs scoreless throughout to secure a 10-0 victory while they claimed the AMC Conference Tournament Title.
Kaitlyn Nottelmann was the winning pitcher as she allowed just three hits and struck out eight batters in her 5.0 innings on the mound. Offensively, Rachel Sullivan went 3-3 with two runs scored, Dakota Newton and Molly Carter each went 1-2 with one run scored and one RBI, Alexandra Linck went 2-4 with two RBI's, Allyson Metz went 1-3 with one run scored, Natalie Dummitt went 3-3 with two runs scored and four RBI's, and Julianna Waldner went 1-3 with one run scored.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has released the list of 10 host sites for the sixth annual NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round. The event will be played May 14 – 16 and features 10 four-team, double elimination tournaments throughout the country. The 40 qualifiers and pairings for the Opening Rounds will be announced Tuesday, May 8th at 5 p.m. EDT on the NAIA Facebook page. The opening round playing format can be found here.
