Day 2 Recap: Top-seeded Rio Grande rolls into tournament title game
RSC Sports Information
VIENNA, W.Va. - After Thursday night rain put the brakes on the opening day of the River States Conference Softball Championship, the two games suspended by the inclement weather and all but one of the contests originally scheduled for Friday were completed around more of the wet stuff at Jackson Memorial Park.
At the end of the day, top-seeded University of Rio Grande found itself advancing to the championship game of the double-elimination tournament with three other schools still in the hunt for a chance to square off with the RedStorm and snag the league's remaining bid to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round.
Rio Grande began the day with a 12-5 win over fourth-seeded Midway University, which had finished off a 4-0 triumph over No. 5 seed Carlow University earlier in the morning that it had started on Thursday before the arrival of the rain.
The RedStorm (34-12) then posted a mercy rule-shortened 13-0 win over No. 2 seed Indiana University Southeast in the winner's bracket final to punch its ticket to the championship.
The Grenadiers (29-23) posted an 8-3 win over third-seeded Point Park University in their first game of the day after the Pioneers completed a 5-2 victory over No. 6 seed West Virginia University-Tech in the other contest suspended on Thursday night.
Point Park (21-17) and Midway (22-25) kept their hopes alive by defeating Carlow and WVU-Tech, respectively, in elimination games. The Pioneers scored a run in the home half of the sixth inning to nip the cross-town rival Celtics, 1-0, while the Eagles sent the Golden Bears packing with an 11-3 victory in five innings.
Saturday's schedule is set to begin with an elimination game between Point Park and Midway at 9 a.m., with the winner advancing to meet IU Southeast in the loser's bracket final at approximately 11 a.m.
The winner of that game will advance to the championship first final at 1 p.m. for a meeting with Rio Grande. A second final, if necessary, would follow 30 minutes after the completion of the first title matchup.
With Rio Grande having already punched its ticket to the national tournament as a result of winning the league's regular season crown, whomever advances to face the RedStorm for the tourney title will also be headed to the NAIA nationals either as the tourney champion or its runner-up.
Live video coverage of Saturday's tournament action will be available through the RSC's Stretch Internet portal on a pay-per-view basis, with live statistics available free of charge through both Stretch Internet and DakStats.
Links for video and stats, in addition to complete coverage of the tournament, is available at www.riverstatesconference.com.