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

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – (Box Score) Georgia Wall carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning and the top seeded Oklahoma City Stars held on for a 4-3 win against two-time defending national champion and No. 2 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) today in a loser-out game at the 36th Annual NAIA Softball World Series, presented by Security National Bank and Morningside College. Auburn Montgomery plated three runs with two outs in the seventh inning, but a fly-out ended the rally.

Oklahoma City (64-3) stays alive to play No. 6 Southeastern (Fla.) at 7 p.m. CDT tonight in the third-place contest. The winner of that game advances to the World Series championship Thursday at 5 p.m. against No. 4 Saint Xavier (Ill.).

Auburn Montgomery bows out of the World Series with a 53-8 record.

Madison Ellis, who finished 3-for-3 for the Stars, handed her club a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Her single to right scored Kali Pugh and Kyndra Holasek and the top-ranked Stars gave Wall a lead to work with.

Back-to-back extra-base hits – an Ellis triple and a Laci Joyner double – got the Oklahoma City offense going again in the sixth. Leading 3-0, Stephanie Koishor drove in Joyner on a ground-out.

Wall was cruising in the circle. A mere walk and defensive error were the only Auburn Montgomery base runners through the first six innings. But, the Warhawks’ offense – who used a three-run sixth inning Tuesday to defeat St. Gregory’s (Okla.), 3-2 – made things interesting in the seventh frame tonight.

With two outs, Rose Schmidt – Tuesday’s hero with a two-RBI single that completed the comeback – doubled to left-center to push across Rachel Ragland. Two more runs, which scored on a Wall wild throw, brought the Warhawks within a 4-3 score.

But, Wall induced a fly out by Katie Brinkman to end the game.

Wall improved to 25-1 and she gave up three runs (one earned) on two hits. She struck out eight and walked two.

Warhawk starter Taylor Powell went the distance in suffering the loss, dropping to 35-5 overall. She allowed four runs on 10 hits, walk two and whiffed seven batters.

Leslie Miller complimented Ellis with two hits for the Stars.

Stretch Internet, the NAIA’s official video-streaming company of NAIA national championship events, will be broadcasting all 19 games of the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series on the NAIA Network. The All-World Series package can be purchased for $29.95 or the day package for $9.95. 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 second-straight time. For more information on the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series, click here.