Columbia, Mo. – The 23^rd ranked and one seeded Columbia College softball team continued AMC Tournament play this afternoon as they took on the seventh seed William Woods Owls. The Cougars dominated the Owls in the AMC Tournament Championship Series winning the first game 12-1 in five innings, and won the second game 8-4 to claim the 2019 AMC Tournament Championship for the third consecutive year. Columbia is now 35-10 on the season.
 
In game one, the Owls were quick to get on the board as they scored a run in the first inning. The Cougars responded right away with a two run homerun by Molly Carter. Columbia's bats came alive as they added ten runs in the third inning. Natalie Dummitt singled to right and two Cougars scored. Avgustina Arbova hit a bomb to left field for a three run homerun to bring Columbia up 5-1.Olivia Denslow followed that with a hit to center to score another Cougar. Mackenzie Kasarda then doubled to right and added two more runs. Natalie Dummitt added another hit and Kasarda scored to give Columbia the 11 run lead. Woods attempted to get back in the game, but Columbia shut out the first three batters right off the bat to secure their win.
 
Lexi Dickerson was the sole pitcher for the Cougars as she struck out five batters and did not allow any earned runs in the five innings. Offensively, Natalie Dummitt and Mackenzie Kasarda led the way as they both had two hits while scoring a run and had three RBI. Additionally, Avgustina Arbova had a hit while scoring a run and had one RBI, and Molly Carter had a hit while scoring three runs and had two RBI.
 
Natalie Dummitt got the Cougars started in the second game as she hit to center to score two Cougars. The Owls answered that with two runs to tie the game at two. A hit from Denslow and Mackenzie Kasarda got them each an RBI to boost the Cougars lead 4-2 in the third. Carter was attempting to steal base when Denslow took her shot and ran for hom plate as she outran the Owls throw to score. Woods then cut Columbia's lead as they got three hits in a row to score two runs. In the third inning, AMC Freshman of the Year, Mackenzie Kasarda hit a solo homerun to extend the Cougars lead 6-4. Kasarda then hit to right field in the seventh inning and added another RBI, while an Owl error scored a runner to bring the Cougars lead up 8-4. In the final inning, Columbia only allowed one hit as they kept Woods from adding any runs to win the second game 8-4.
 
Molly Carter got the start on the circle as she struck out a hitter in 2.1 innings of play. Kaitlyn Nottelman relieved Carter in the third as she struck out two batters and did not allow any earned runs in the last 4.2 innings of the game. Offensively, the Cougars were led by Mackenzie Kasarda who had three hits while scoring a run and had one RBI, Natalie Dummitt who had three hits and two RBI, and Olivia Denslow who had three hits while scoring two runs and had one RBI to round out the top performers.
 
The Cougars will return to the field on Monday, May 13^th for the 2019 NAIA National Championship Opening Round. The Cougars will be one of ten sites hosting the Opening Round which features 10 four-team, double elimination tournaments throughout the country. The teams will be announced on Tuesday, May 7^th at 4 p.m. CDT through the Play NAIA Facebook page. To watch the reveal of the teams, click here.