Lady Vikings upset No. 20 EU

Junior Wendy Garcia had the game-winning RBI with a fourth-inning single during the Lady Vikings' 2-1 decision at Evangel. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri Valley College softball team is getting strong pitching and timely hitting at exactly the right time.

The Lady Vikings' hurlers limited one of the NAIA's top offenses Tuesday during a 2-1, 4-2 doubleheader sweep at 20th-ranked Evangel in the semifinal round of the Heart of America Conference Tournament.

Junior Tatum Hathcock did the job in the opener, holding the Lady Crusaders -- sixth in the nation with an average of 10.3 hits per game -- to five singles.

Three of those came in the bottom of the first inning, when sophomore Misty Robbins drove in junior Adrienne Lopez with a two-out hit for a 1-0 Evangel lead. However, the Lady Crusaders would leave the sacks filled and never again put more than one runner on base at a time against Hathcock, who issued no walks and struck out six.

Valley tied the score on its next turn at the plate, which began with senior Heather Sliger's single. She came in when junior Sydney Kaneshiro tripled down the right-field line.

The Lady Vikings got the go-ahead run in the fourth on singles by junior Janae Borrego, senior Kimberly Fuller and junior Wendy Garcia.

Freshman Janie Jungerman won her fifth straight decision in the nightcap, but also had survive a rough patch early in the game.

A bunt single by junior Kendra Corbin and junior Megan Cairns' double produced an Evangel run in the top of the first, but the junior Edna Gutierrez tripled to lead off the bottom half of the stanza, scoring on senior Lindsey Stapp's single.

Borrego doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs, but Valley couldn't get another run in -- which appeared to be costly when the Lady Crusaders (34-13) went back on top in the second on Corbin's double.

However, the Lady Vikings tallied three runs on their next turn. Senior Esperanza Reyes drew a lead-off walk and was bunted to second. Gutierrez singled to put runners on the corners, then stole second base.

Borrego plated both runners with a two-out single, going to second on the throw to the plate and completing the circuit when Sliger doubled into the gap in left-center field.

That was all Jungerman needed. She scattered four hits the rest of the way, only running into serious trouble in the sixth -- when a two-out single freshman Kasey Spencer and freshman Mariana Nelson's double threatened to produce a run until Spencer was called out for running outside the base paths.

The win sent the Lady Vikings (31-20) into the championship round Saturday at Central Methodist, which knocked off Lindenwood, 2-1 and 2-1. The winner of that best two-out-of-three series will receive an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships, which begins May 14 at Decatur, Ala.