Wallace State softball continues to roll at NJCAA national tournament, two wins away from program's second national title

ST GEORGE, UTAH – Wallace State softball is two wins away from the program’s second National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national title. The Lady Lions exploded for a six-run fifth inning against Pima (Ariz.) CC in Friday’s championship bracket and held on for an 8-6 victory.
Wallace State (53-11) advances to play Salt Lake CC today at 8:30 p.m. Central in the NJCAA Division I championship bracket final and is assured of finishing no worse than third in the double-elimination tournament.
“We’ve been focused the entire tournament, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do. Everybody in the lineup decided to go to work against Pima. Their pitcher obviously thought she was a little better than she was.
When we made up our mind to hit her, we made it count,” said Wallace State coach Jayne Clem, who’s making her eighth national tournament appearance with the Lady Lions. “If we hadn’t hit, we would have been in trouble late.”
With the game tied at 1-1, Wallace State sent 11 batters to the plate in the decisive sixth inning. Second baseman Madeline Lee led off the inning with a solo homer, giving the Lady Lions a 2-1 advantage. Libby Olinger and Maria Mitchell followed with consecutive singles and Brittany Gillison reached on an error to load the bases for Victoria Frith, who punched an RBI single to make it 3-1.
Shaq Morris followed with an RBI single and Katie Gentle added a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-1 when the first out was recorded.
Kori Benson added a two-run single later in the inning to push Wallace State’s lead to 7-1.
Wallace State scored a sixth-inning run on an error for an 8-1 advantage.
As Butler (Kan.) CC did on Thursday, Pima (48-18) battled back to give Wallace State a mini scare. The Aztecs scored three unearned runs in the sixth. After hitting a homer in the sixth, Pima’s Maria Alejandra Orti added a two-run single in the seventh with two outs, but was left stranded as Wallace State’s BreeAnna Blevins got Shawna Comeaux to pop out to short to end the game.
Blevins (26-5) threw her 26^th complete game of the season and won her second game in the tournament by allowing four earned runs. She struck out eight and walked three. Blevins also earned a save in Wallace State’s 8-6 win over Butler on Thursday.
Benson paced Wallace State at the plate with a pair of hits, including her 22^nd homer of the season, and three RBIs. Frith was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Morris was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Pima starter Yvette Alvarez was tagged for seven runs—six earned—on nine hits in five innings.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.