Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw topped Baldwin-Wallace, 15-3, and Saint Mary's, 16-8, to stay alive in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship. The Tigers face Coe at 11 a.m. on Saturday and need a pair of wins over the Kohawks to win the regional and advance to the super regional.
DePauw and Baldwin Wallace were scoreless until the third when the Tigers struck first with a seven-run inning.
Goose Moore led off with a single before
Ella Kuenster,
Kelsey Bernhard and
Katie Mathies hit consecutive doubles to make it 2-0. After
Emily Timberman walked and
Alex Romero-Salas singled home Bernhard,
Riley Heim blasted a grand slam to center to push the lead to 7-0.
Mia Maddamma's two-run homer in the bottom of the third put the Yellow Jackets on the board before DePauw tacked on eight more in the fifth. Timberman led off with a homer and Bernhard later smashed a three-run shot.
The Yellow Jackets added a single run in the fifth before the game ended due to the run rule.
Heim had three of DePauw's 15 hits, while Kuenster, Bernhard and Romero-Salas each had two. Lexy Coggins paced Baldwin Wallace with two of its eight hits.
Riley Depa improved to 12-5 and Marisa Hall dropped to 13-8.
Saint Mary's took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first of game 5 on Heather Nordlund's two-run single. Zoe Fink's pinch-hit double in the fourth scored Gabrielle Grover to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-0.
The Tigers evened the count in the fifth as Romero-Salas drove in
Alyssa Anderson and Mathies with a single and Heim plated Timberman with a single.
Mathies' sacrifice fly in the sixth gave DePauw the lead before Romero-Salas and Helm each drove in a pair with singles to give DePauw an 8-3 advantage.
Saint Mary's came right back in the bottom of the sixth as Lizzie Pike and Abbie Stigler each scored one with singles before Makayla Steffes added a sacrifice fly and Peyton Berg brought home one with a single to close the gap to 8-7.
A wild pitch and subsequent error on the play allowed Moore and
Macey Cox to score in the DePauw seventh before Romero-Salas made it 11-7 with a grounder. Heim followed wth an RBI single before Bernhard and Kuenster each delivered two-run singles to make it 16-7.
The Cardinals added one run in the bottom of the seventh, but DePauw shut down the rally.
Romero-Salas, Heim and Cox each had three of DePauw's 14 hits with Anderson adding two. Ali French led Saint Mary's with three of its 14 hits with Megan McGinnis, Nordlun and Pike each following with two.
Romer-Salas improved to13-6 and Steffes dropped to 17-5.
