Rio Grande Sports Information
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The University of Rio Grande remains in the hunt for a championship after splitting a pair of games on Friday in the River States Conference Softball Championship at Little Creek Park.
The third-seeded RedStorm knocked off rival and No. 2 seed Shawnee State University, 5-3, in a winner's bracket semifinal before dropping a 3-0 decision to fourth-seeded Indiana University Southeast in the winner's bracket final of the double-elimination tournament.
The split means that head coach Chris Hammond's squad will play No. 6 seed Indiana University Columbus in loser's bracket final on Saturday at 10 a.m., with the survivor advancing to the championship first final against IU Southeast at 1 p.m.
A second final, if necessary, would follow at 3:30 p.m.
The tournament champion will earn a spot in the upcoming NAIA National Championship.
Rio's opening game on Friday was a foreshadowing of what proved to be a long day for the higher-seeded teams. The higher seed, or home, team went just 1-5 in the six games played and the top two seeds - No. 1 Oakland City University and Shawnee State - failed to survive the day's action.
The RedStorm took a 5-0 lead against the Bears, scoring four times in the third inning and once more in the fifth.
Sophomore Lana Landefeld (Williamsport, OH) got the scoring underway with an RBI single and junior Nigella Reck (Covington, OH) added a three-run home run, while the fifth inning marker scored on a double by freshman Macy Kise (Milford Center, OH).
Shawnee State, which had been blanked on just three hits through the first five innings, made things interesting after stringing together a hit batsman and four consecutive singles for three runs.
Gabby Adams, who transferred from Rio Grande to SSU, had a two-run single and Sydney Skiver had an RBI hit before Keegan Uhl lined into a double-play.
A subsequent single by Emily Moore put the would-be tying runs on base and brought the would-be go-ahead run to the plate, but Lexi Lockwood grounded out to first to end the threat.
The Bears went down in order in the seventh.
Reck and Landefeld finished with two hits each in the win, while freshman Gabby Henry (Williamsport, OH) added a double in the winning effort.
Senior Meg McCallum (Belmont, Ontario, Canada) got the win in the pitcher's circle with a complete game effort.
Abbie Deeds went the distance in the loss for Shawnee State, allowing eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts.
Uhl had two hits, including a triple, and Haley Myers finished 2-for-4 for the Bears.
Against IU Southeast, the RedStorm (35-18) managed just four hits - all singles - in their shutout loss.
The Grenadiers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an RBI hit by Lillian Mackey and then added two more markers in the third on a solo home run by Chloee Shewmaker and a run-scoring hit by Savannah Gaither.
Rio Grande stranded 10 runners in the loss, including five in scoring position and leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
Kise started and lost for the RedStorm, allowing six hits and all three runs over 2-1/3 innings.
Emma Davis started and got the win, allowing the our hits and four walks over five innings. Liv Morris pitched the final two frames for a save.
Mackey was 3-for-3 in the win, while Gaither was 2-for-4 with a double and Grace Stapleton had two hits of her own.
