Story by Chad Waller, Director of Communications & Sports Information
Pictures courtesy of Rick Dominowski, Click HERE to order

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – (Box Score) No. 2 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) banged out 10 hits, including back-to-back home runs from Jade Sasser and Kayla Hale, to earn a 9-0, run-rule victory over No. 9 Concordia (Ore.) Tuesday night at the 35th Annual NAIA Softball World Series, presented by Security National Bank and Morningside College. Leading 4-0, the Warhawks exploded for five runs on four hits and an error in the fifth to take control.

Auburn Montgomery stays in the winner’s bracket and plays Thursday at 5 p.m. CDT in the World Series championship. The Warhawks are in the driver’s seat as they are the only undefeated team in the World Series at 3-0. The program is trying to become the first to win back-to-back titles since Oklahoma City did it from 2000-02.

Concordia falls to the elimination bracket and plays Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the winner of No. 7 Oregon Tech and No. 3 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).

In the top of the third, Alexia Boggess scored on a single by Katie Spain to hand the Warhawks a 1-0 lead.

Auburn Montgomery pushed out the advantage to 4-0 in the fourth with RBI-singles coming from Jennifer Jenkins and Katie Brinkman. The other run was scored on a stolen base.

In the explosive fifth inning for the Warhawks, nine batters stepped to the plate. With one out, Sasser connected for her seventh homer of the year, followed by Hale’s ninth bomb. Spain gathered her second and third RBIs of the game courtesy of a single to center. Those runs-batted-in pushed Spain’s season total to 37.

Perhaps lost in the offensive display was Auburn Montgomery starting pitcher Cassie Jones. She continued her prowess as she finished the game with nine strikeouts and just one hit allowed – a single off the bat of Taylor Copher in the second inning. Jones improved to 34-4 on the year. In 19.0 innings in three World Series appearances, Jones now has allowed just one earned run, eight hits and struck out 34 batters.

In the circle for Concordia, Tori Muir dropped to 4-4 on the year. She started and went 3.0 innings and allowed one run on one hit and gave up three walks.

For the Warhawks, Spain, Hale and Hayden Henderson each finished with two hits.

Stretch Internet, the NAIA’s official video-streaming company of 17 select NAIA national championship events, will be broadcasting all 19 games of the 2015 NAIA Softball World Series. The All-World Series package can be purchased for $20. For more information, including how to register for an account, click here.

The double-elimination event is being played out at the Elizabeth & Irving Jensen Softball Complex. The City of Sioux City and Morningside College serve as official hosts for the first time. For more information on the 2015 NAIA Softball World Series, click here.