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National Championship Opening Round Central

Adam Hildebrandt's postgame report, Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 14 Central Methodist dropped its first game Tuesday in the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round semifinals to No. 2 LSU Alexandria (La.), 7-3, but rallied in the second contest to eliminate Columbia (Mo.), 4-2, from the postseason and set up a rematch with the Generals in the championship game of the Columbia Bracket on Wednesday at 12 p.m. CT.

The Eagles must defeat LSU Alexandria, the top-seed in the bracket, twice on Wednesday to advance to the 34th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Columbus, Ga.

Central Methodist (43-7), the two-seed in the bracket, jumped out to a 3-0 lead on LSU Alexandria (34-3) Tuesday into the middle of the fifth inning on the strength of solo blasts from Bri Ford and Bri Boatwright in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.� A Boatwright RBI single in the top of the third inning broke a scoreless tie.

The Generals tied the game at three in the bottom of the fifth. Kim Gonzalez cut the deficit to two with a solo homer to center field. Kaylee Prather and Taylor Simon delivered back-to-back RBI singles later in the frame.

LSU Alexandria took the lead for good with four runs in the sixth, starting with Gonzalez's second dinger of the game to center.

Five Generals tallied two hits apiece. Simon totaled a team-high three RBIs.

Boatwright and Michele Rupard each had two hits.

Kaycee Spears (13-3) went the distance in the circle for the win, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

Aubrey Utley (26-2) took the loss and failed to go the distance for the first time in 26 starts in the circle in 2014, giving up six earned runs on 11 hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

Utley answered the bell in the afternoon victory over Columbia (31-18), tying her 2012 single-season school record for wins. The Trenton, Mo., native pitched seven strong innings, holding the Cougars to two runs, one earned, on six hits with a strikeout and three walks.

All of the Eagles scoring in the win came courtesy of the long ball. The Green and Black tallied three homers, including Lauren Geringer's two-run blast in the bottom of the fifth that broke a two-all tie. Geringer, already the all-time leader in homers in school history, is one homer shy of tying her 2013 single-season school record. Lindie Adair and Boatwright each went yard in the third inning to erase a 1-0 deficit. Adair and Boatwright have each homered during the first two days of the Columbia Bracket. Central Methodist has totaled 54 homers this season, a school record.

Columbia scored first in the top of the second inning Kristin Eiken scored on a passed ball.

The Cougars tied the affair at two in the fourth on Kaylee Brueggeman's RBI single before Geringer's heroics in the next frame.

Seven different Eagles had one hit. Geringer, Boatwright, Adair and Jessica Wilmes each scored a run.

Six different Cougars had a hit in the loss. Eiken and Lauren McCroskie each scored one run.

Taylor Richter (4-5) suffered the loss in the circle in a complete-game performance, giving up four earned runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk.