Story by Alfred Kojima, NAIA Media Assistant
Pictures courtesy of NAIAPictures.com

COLUMBUS, Ga. – (Box Score) No. 10 College of Idaho bounced back from its nine-inning shutout loss on Friday to post a 3-0 shutout over No. 3 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), in second day action of the 2014 NAIA Softball World Series at the South Commons Softball Complex on Saturday. The Lady Yotes stay alive in the elimination round and will face either No. 8 Oklahoma City or No. 1 LSU Alexandria (La.) on Monday at 1 p.m. EDT.

The Tigers were held to four base hits, two by junior Jordyn Truelock and were held scoreless back-to-back for the first time this season. Olivet Nazarene concludes their season at 49-5-1 overall.

Coming into the game, Olivet Nazarene ranked No. 1 in the NAIA in runs scored (8.7), but the offense could never get going. The loss was the second in-a-row, and marked the first time since the first two games of the year (March 10), when the Tigers lost two-straight.

Lady Yotes senior pitcher Nickayla Skinner, who took the loss on Friday, tossed a complete-game shutout, and struck out five to earn her 25th victory of the season.

“Our girls were emotionally and physically drained after last night’s game, and unfortunately we were on the short end of the victory.” said College of Idaho coach Al Mendiola. “We were able to do it with Nickayla Skinner in the circle and a couple of big hits for us - that is what the difference was today.”

Olivet Nazarene entered the day coming off a tough loss to No. 6 William Carey (Miss.) on Friday. The Tigers started in the first inning with two runners aboard with one out via back-to-back singles by Truelock and senior Hannah Gardner. Skinner then posted back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. The Tigers ended up stranding six runners on base during the afternoon.

The Lady Yotes (34-17) scored all three of their runs on four hits in the third inning. With one out, senior Paige Gabiola bunted for a base hit and took second on a stolen base. She later scored on an RBI-single by senior Briana Brace. Senior Ashley Van Horne stepped in and hit a two-run home run over the center field fence to close out the scoring.

College of Idaho received five hits from five different players. Van Horne finished with two RBIs on her third roundtripper of the year.

The 34th Annual Softball World Series is a 10-team, double-elimination event hosted by the Columbus Sports Council.

For more information, including updated bracket, stats and live streaming, click here.