ALLIANCE, Ohio – The no. 12 nationally ranked Mount Union softball team defeated UMass Dartmouth in two games in the NCAA Super Regional to advance to their first College World Series in program history, winning game one 5-2 and winning game two 4-1.
The Corsairs (33-12) struck first in game one when Bre Fontes hit an RBI single in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead. UMass Dartmouth would add to their lead in the top half of the fifth when Olivia Silva hit a solo home run to extend their lead to two runs.
The Purple Raiders (35-7) would answer in the bottom half of the fifth when freshman
Grace Bates (Mount Vernon) hit a two-RBI single that scored senior
Faith Reicosky (North Canton / Hoover) and freshman
Addy Antonetz (Zanesville / West Muskingum) to tie the game at two runs apiece. Then, later in the same inning freshman
McKayla Miller and Bates both scored following an error by the Dartmouth shortstop, then senior
Kaitlyn Culver (Girard) scored on a wild pitch to take a 5-2 lead.
The Corsairs would have an answer over the final two innings as the Raiders would go on to take game one 5-2.
Senior
Kendyll Cahill (Groveport / Groveport Madison) got the start in the circle for Mount Union and threw a complete game, allowing two runs on nine hits and striking out two.
The Raiders struck first in game two when Cahill hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead.
UMass Dartmouth would answer when Lena Tsonis scored following a Mount Union error in the fifth inning, cutting the lead to just a run.
The Raiders would add to their lead in the following inning when senior
Lydia Brunner (Minerva) hit a two-RBI triple that scored freshman
Isabella Thomas-Friend (Amherst / Marion L. Steele) and Culver to stretch their lead to three runs.
The Corsairs wouldn't be able to answer in the seventh as the Raiders would go on to take game two 4-1 and advance to their first College World Series in program history.
Cahill once again got the start in the circle for Mount Union and threw another complete game, allowing just one run, zero earned on three hits and struck out two.
The Purple Raiders have advanced to their first College World Series in program history with the wins, the World Series will take place from May 28 – June 3 in Salem, Viriginia.
