May 25, 2010

DECATUR, Ala. - Belhaven (Miss.) kept its first run at the NAIA Softball National Championship alive, holding off Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) for a 5-3 win the losers bracket Tuesday at Wilson Morgan Softball Complex. The Blazers (54-9) advanced to take on William Carey (Miss.) at 2:30 p.m.

Trevecca Nazarene bows out of the event and closes out its season with a record of 44-17. The Trojans were playing in their fourth national championship and are now 14-11 all-time.

Chalking up the win was Sarah Burns (30-5), with 6 2/3 innings of work from the circle. The junior pitcher scattered three hits and gave up one earned run. Riley Mashburn (23-8) took the Trojan loss, giving up three hits and one earned run on one hit.

All five of Belhaven's runs were earned as the Blazers finished the game with nine hits. Belhaven took advantage of its speed on the base pads, stealing five times. Through five games played, the Blazers have stolen at least one base in every game, including five against Northwood (Texas) in pool play.

Trevecaca Nazarene's offense was led by junior Kelsey Lantrip's 2-for-4 performance at the plate, both of which were doubles, and scored once. Junior counterpart Karli Rush also collected a hit in the loss and drove in one.

The Blazers offense was connecting throughout the game, scoring four unanswered runs to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom half of the fourth inning. A wild pitch by Mashburn allowed pinch runner Kayla Maldonado to score in the second, Tiffany Ansley sent a solo shot over the left-field fence in the third and Christina Jaques jacked a two-run homer in the fourth.

A lead-off double by Lantrip set up the Trojans first run of the game, as Rush doubled to deep left field two batters later to score Lantrip and cut the lead to 4-1.

Down 5-1 with just three outs remaining, Trevecca Nazarene attempted to rally from behind by capitalizing on a pair of Blazer errors. A lead-off walk was issued to Zawadzki and she took second after Melinda Patterson was hit by a pitch. The runners moved up 60 feet on a bobbled play by second baseman Britney Webb. Following a Mashburn foul ball pop out behind the plate, Lantrip connected and sent the ball sailing high into the air on the edge of the grass behind second base. A catch by Webb would have ended the game, but she missed, and Zawadzki and Patterson both sprinted home. That would be all that the Trojans could push across as Megan Hemmingsen popped out to short to end the contest.