Columbus, Ga. - After rain suspended play in the fifth inning and forced an overnight delay, the UBC Thunderbirds (32-23, 15-9) returned to the field Saturday morning to edge the No.6-ranked University of the Cumberlands Patriots (40-21, 12-6) 2-1 and keep their season alive at the NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga. Recently earning tournament First Team honours,
Carleen Murray once again led the way for the blue and gold, tossing her second straight complete game while striking out five en route to the win on Saturday morning.
"[Murray] is an amazing athlete, amazing teammate. She has absolutely been our best pitcher this year", said UBC head coach
Jennifer McKellar. "She's a dog out there; she wants the ball. We're so proud of her."
The Patriots struck first in the opening frame as Krystal Anne Castaneda worked a full-count walk, stole second, then scored shortly after as Makenzie Henderson laced an RBI single into right field. Murray settled in from there, striking out a pair to end the inning before shutting down the Patriots over the next several frames.
Runs were hard to come by as both pitchers and defences found a rhythm, but UBC broke through in the fourth.
Tegan Harnett battled through an eight-pitch at-bat to draw a leadoff walk before advancing on a sacrifice bunt from
Jessica Heutink. A single followed to put runners on the corners, marking the T-Birds' first hit of the day. With two outs gone,
Kennedy Laird came through in the clutch and drilled a grounder up the middle for an RBI single, evening the score at one apiece.
From there, the game remained deadlocked heading to the top of the seventh. With two outs gone, UBC's
Brielle Donoghue shot a single up the middle before
Marin Jorgenson worked a full-count walk. Harnett, who had three walks to this point, then added an infield single to her line, which then brought Heutink to the plate with the bases loaded. After delivering a walk-off RBI in the Opening Round that sent her squad to the World Series, the fourth-year vet came through once again in a big moment and earned a walk to force home the go-ahead run.
Murray returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and worked around a late Patriots' threat with a runner in scoring position but got out of it by inducing a game-ending groundout to secure the 2-1 victory.
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"This is a special group. Relentless is something that we have gravitated towards all year, and they showed it today," reflected UBC coach McKellar. "We're so proud of them; they were bought in. They want to be here, play for each other, so we're grateful for that."
With the win, the UBC Thunderbirds (32-23, 15-9) keep their sights on the first World Series title in program history and play a second game on Saturday, advancing to take on the losing team from the matchup between the top-ranked Madonna University (Mich.) Crusaders (48-4, 19-1) and the No.8-seed Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats (41-13, 30-6). First pitch is scheduled for May 23 at 12:30 p.m. PT at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Georgia.
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