The Pioneers finished a sweep through the HAAC Conference Tournament on Saturday and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. Regular-season conference champion Central Methodist had a mountain to climb on Saturday, needing to win 3 straight games to take the tourney. They completed step 1 of their journey by defeating Evangel in the first game of the day, but Jen Costa and the Pioneers were too much for the Eagles to overcome. MNU got the scoring started in the second inning when Ashley Salter reached second on an error and was sacrificed to third by Emily True. After a walk, Chelsea Bapst's RBI groundout put the Pioneers up 1-0. CMU tied the game in the bottom of the second, but Costa drilled a 2-run homer to left in the top of the third to give the Pioneers a 3-1 lead they would not relinquish. The Eagles closed the gap with a solo homer in the fourth, but the Pioneers broke it open in the top of the seventh. With 2 outs and nobody on, Tianna George singled and Costa was hit by a pitch. Taylor Ryal's RBI single put MNU up by 2, and Costa later stole home on a back pick attempt at second to give them a 5-2 lead. Costa (16-3) closed out the seventh and picked up her 3rd victory of the tournament, and Tianna George (3-4, 2 R), Jen Costa (1-2, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 HBP, SB), and Taylor Ryal (2-4, RBI) led the offense.
The Pioneers are 38-10. They advance to the
NAIA National Tournament for the second year in a row and will start Pool Play on Thursday the 19th. They will play single games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with hopes of advancing to the 8-team double elimination tournament which starts the following Monday.
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