Tommie softball wins super regional, advances to national tournament

The Tommies pose in front of the Super Regional championship trophy. The team will head to Salem, Va., next week for the College World Series. (Photo courtesy of TommieSports)
The Tommies pose in front of the Super Regional championship trophy. The team will head to Salem, Va., next week for the College World Series. (Photo courtesy of TommieSports)

ANGOLA, Ind. – Second baseman Megan DuPuis’ seventh-inning RBI earned the Tommies a spot in the College World Series for the second time in three years with a 2-1 victory over Trine Saturday.

Twelfth-ranked St. Thomas (43-6) needed a single win against Trine University (33-14) Saturday to sweep the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series. With slower bats than Friday’s 9-5 win over the Thunder, the Tommies relied on a seventh-inning hit to advance.

An errorless game for the Tommies led to unsuccessful production for the Thunder. Both teams were scoreless through the first half of the game, until Trine freshman Lainey McCue hit her second career home run, bringing in the Thunder’s only run of the game in the fifth.

St. Thomas pitcher Kiersten Anderson-Glass then shut down Trine with two strikeouts and left baserunners stranded on second and third.

The Tommies scored their first run on a wild throw to third. DuPuis capitalized and raced home to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Pitcher Katie Jo Delisle entered as relief for Anderson-Glass in the seventh inning and cleaned up with two consecutive strikeouts.

With one out at the bottom of seven, DuPuis, who is on a five-game hitting streak, finished things up with the team’s sole RBI and batted pinch runner Danielle Wigen home.

With that run, the Tommies will advance to the eight-team Division III national tournament. They will head to Salem, Virginia, next week to face the winner of Emory and Benedictine in the first round of the College World Series. St.Thomas finished third in 2014, second in 2006 and won the national title in 2004 and 2005.