National Championship Opening Round Central
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Reardon

COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 2 -seed Central Methodist opened the 2014 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round by making a statement, routing No. 3-seed Columbia (Mo.) 12-2 in five innings. The Eagles, who improve to 2-2 all-time in the Opening Round and 4-6 in four national tournament appearances, advance to the semifinals of the Columbia Bracket to face No. 1-seed LSU Alexandria (La.), ranked second in the nation, on Tuesday at 11 a.m. CT at Black Field at Cosmopolitan Park's Antimi Sports Complex.

The Eagles have won 10-straight games, their third win streak of double-digit contests this season, and 15-straight away games.

After giving up two unearned runs in the top of the first inning, Central Methodist (42-6) scored 12 unanswered runs in a four-inning span. The 14th-ranked Eagles tied a season-high by drawing 11 walks and pounded out 11 hits on their way to their 42nd win, which sets a new single-season school record, surpassing the 2011 and 2012 squads. Eight of nine Eagles' starters drew at least one walk in the win.�

Columbia (30-17) was helped by two Eagles' errors in the top of the first, and Carly Spalding and Marli Hayes scored in the frame to give the Cougars, playing on their home field, a two-run edge.

The Eagles countered with a three-run second inning and never looked back. A Jessica Wilmes two-run single scored Alyssa Lilly and Lindie Adair to tie the game. Two batters later, Bri Ford induced one of her two walks in the game, plating Wilmes to give the four-time reigning Heart of America Athletic Conference champion the lead for good.

After a Wilmes RBI single in the third, the Eagles blew the contest open with five runs in the fourth inning. Lilly and Adair delivered consecutive RBI singles to make the score 6-2. Michele Rupard was then hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, allowing Mary Kate Townley to score from third to increase her team's advantage to five runs. A Bri Boatwright sacrifice fly and Lauren Geringer RBI double made the score 9-2.

Adair went deep to left in the fifth for a three-run dinger to send the fans home early. The homer was Adair's fifth of the season and third in the last three games.

Wilmes, Lilly, Adair and Megan Robbins each had two hits in the game. Adair totaled team-highs in RBIs (4) and runs scored (3). Wilmes plated three. Five different Eagles drove in one run and scored one run.�

Spalding, Hayes, Brittiany Tjarks and Kaylee Brueggeman each had one hit in the loss, which drops the Cougars into an elimination game Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. against No. 4-seed Morningside (Iowa).

Aubrey Utley (25-1) secured the win in the circle after going the distance for the 25th time this season, allowing two unearned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and a walk. The Trenton, Mo., native is two wins shy of breaking her own single-season school record set during the 2012 campaign.

Taylor Richter (4-4) took the loss in the circle for the Cougars. She was chased from the game after only an inning and a third in which she surrendered three earned runs on two hits with two strikeouts and five walks. Five different Cougar pitchers were used in the contest. Richter and Amber Boehme, the first two pitchers used by the Cougars, gave up 10 of the team's 11 walks.�

The loser of Tuesday's Central Methodist/LSU Alexandria game will fall into an elimination game at 4 p.m. between the winner of the Cougars/Mustangs contest.�

Central Methodist last faced LSU Alexandria on March 10, 2013, in the Gulf Coast Invitational, where the Eagles came away with a 12-2 win in five innings.