DENVER – No. 5 seed Rogers State softball (55-10) will look to clinch a spot in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship Series as they face off against No. 1 seed UT Tyler (49-8) at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 29.
The Hillcats earned a coveted day off and stayed in the winner's bracket undefeated with a 10-2 win over No. 8 Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday. Offensively, RSU was led by Kimberli Presnell who went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI including a two RBI triple off the center field wall. Andrea Morales continued her dominance in the circle earning the complete game win with three strikeouts and did not allow a walk.
By staying undefeated, UTT must defeat the Hillcats two times on Sunday to knock them out of the tournament.
The Patriots have had to fight their way out of the loser's bracket after being upset by Cal State Dominguez Hills 5-1 in the opening game of the tournament. Since that loss, UTT has downed Southern Indiana 12-5 and Auburn-Montgomery 4-3. In fact, they had to walk off AUM with two runs in the bottom of seventh after trailing 3-2 to start the inning.
Offensively, the Patriots are led by First Team All-American catcher Ashley Perez who is hitting .432 with a team-high 10 home runs and 57 RBI. They also look for production out of Courtney Plocheck (.419 AVG, 4 HR, 36 RBI) and Tatum Goff (.389 AVG, 10 HR, 40 RBI). In the circle, Goff leads the pitching staff with a 13-5 record and a 1.80 ERA with 141 strikeouts in 128.2 innings.
The game will be streamed live on NCAA.com. Fans can also catch the audio broadcast beginning on the MIAA Network with KRSC 91.3 FM and RSURadio.com picking up the game around 1 p.m. CT all with Josh Haley on the call.
