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Softball wins HAAC regular season title
Lady Crusaders Beat MNU 5-3
April 22, 2009
Contact: Evangel University Athletics 865-2815, Ext. 7282
Springfield, MO — The Evangel University softball team won their 10th Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season championship and their fifth in a row with a 5-3 win over MidAmerica Nazarene Tuesday night.
The game was the resumption of a contest suspended by rain on March 26. Play had been halted with Evangel (32-11, 17-3) leading 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning. The Lady Pioneers (26-21, 10-10) rallied to tie the game with two runs in the third inning.
Evangel broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-out, two-RBI triple by Megan Cairns.
Kimberly Williams started the resumed portion of the game in relief of the game’s original start Anna McKinny. Williams (15-3) picked up the win and Kara Bowling worked a scoreless seventh inning for her fourth save. Penny Eastman took the loss for MidAmerica Nazarene.
The regular season championship is the Lady Crusaders 10th overall and their 8th outright title. Evangel shared the league championship with Central Methodist last year and with Lindenwood in 1999. Evangel’s 17-3 conference record matches their best league record in team history.
Evangel’s first place finish gives the Lady Crusaders home field advantage throughout the conference playoffs. The Lady Crusaders, ranked 20th in the nation in the NAIA, will open the postseason with a best-of-three quarterfinals series against the eighth seed in the HAAC. Games one and two of the series will be Friday at Evangel with the first game starting at 3 p.m.