Rio Grande outlasts IU Southeast for #RSCSOFTBALL Tournament title

5/7/2017 12:00:00 AM

VIENNA, W.Va. -- No. 1 seed University of Rio Grande outlasted No. 3 IU Southeast in a battle for the River States Conference Softball Tournament championship as the RedStorm won its third straight conference title on Saturday night. Rio Grande won the second game of the championship round, 5-3, to edge IU Southeast. Earlier, IU Southeast won the first championship game over Rio Grande, 5-1, to force a winner-take-all game.

Rio Grande (45-8) and IU Southeast (28-21) will both advance to the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening round May 15-17 at campus sites around the country. Rio Grande qualifies with the RSC's first automatic bid as RSC Tournament champion. Since Rio Grande also won the regular-season title, IU Southeast earned the conference's second automatic bid as tournament runner-up. The Grenadiers did so by playing four games Saturday to reach the second championship game.

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND RECAP

Rio Grande (45-8) built a 5-1 lead over IU Southeast (28-21) after five innings of the second championship game. The RedStorm scored in four straight innings to take control with that margin.

Kelsey Conkey homered to begin the scoring in the second. Taylor Arndt, who was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, drove in runs with base hits in the third and fourth. Lead-off batter Michaela Criner was 4 for 4 with two runs to push the Rio Grande lead the next inning.

IU Southeast's Sydney Seger hit a two-run homer to cut the Rio Grande lead to 5-3 in the top of the sixth. The Grenadiers brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but winning pitcher Conkey closed out the title with a strikeout for the complete game. Conkey limited IU Southeast to four hits over seven innings with Emily Hollis having two of those hits.

Three IU Southeast pitchers threw 2.0 innings each with Emily Weiss, Becca Schoenung and Emily Gray combining to give up five runs (four earned).

In the first championship game, Schoenung tossed a complete game giving up only one run in the 5-1 victory over Rio Grande. She scattered eight hits, struck out one and walked one. IU Southeast stretched the lead out to 5-1 with four in the top of the fifth. The Grenadiers had five hits in the inning. Seger and Weiss had RBI hits in the inning, and Justice Kline brought home a run on a squeeze bunt.

IU Southeast had nine hits with Kline going 3 for 3 and Hollis 2 for 4. Rio Grande had eight hits with Alex Stevens 2 for 4 with an RBI hit in the seventh. Rio Grande's Jenna Jones took the loss with five runs charged (four earned) in 4.1 innings.

WINNER'S BRACKET FINAL RECAP

Rio Grande started the day with a 7-0 win over IU Southeast in the winner's bracket final. That advanced the RedStorm into the championship round. Kelsey Conkey not only tossed a complete-game, two-hitter, but she was also 2 for 3 with three RBIs. She had an RBI double as part of Rio Grande's four-run first inning. She later smashed a two-run homer as the RedStorm upped the lead to 7-0 with three in the sixth.

Rio Grande had 10 hits versus two IU Southeast pitchers with Tayler Arndt going 3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI and Michaela Criner 2 for 4 with two runs. Conkey struck out six and walked none in the two-hit shutout.

LOSER'S BRACKET RECAP

No. 2 seed Midway (Ky.) University won the first loser's bracket game of the day Saturday winning in its last at-bat to edge No. 6 Cincinnati Christian, 8-7. The Eagles got three hits to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh. That's when a hit batter forced in the winning run.

CCU had tied the score a 7-7 with two runs in the top of the seventh as Valerie Hudepohl's RBI base hit was followed up by Kelsey Warman's RBI double to tie.

A back-and-forth game had four lead changes and two ties. In the end, it was Midway getting the final say out-hitting CCU, 13-10. Tiffany Wickline got the win for Midway in a complete game. Jessica Tinsley pitched 5.1 innings to take the loss for CCU.

IU Southeast survived the loser's bracket final with a 4-0 win over Midway to advance to the championship round. Emily Weiss threw a 1-hitter, and the Grenadiers moved on. Weiss struck out two and walked two in the complete-game shutout.

IU Southeast had five of its nine hits in the fourth inning to score three runs and take a 3-0 lead. Weiss brought home the first run with a base hit. Clara Shean later doubled to drive in two. Justice Kline and Kyndyl Olds had two hits each with Olds adding a run-scoring hit in the sixth to make the score 4-0.