Columbia to Play For Bracket Championship After Upending #9 Marian

Indianapolis, Indiana – The Columbia College softball team will play for a bracket championship tomorrow after upsetting nationally-ranked #9 Marian University today. Meeting for only the third time in program history, the Cougars remained perfect against the Knights and move to 3-0 against MU all-time. 

Columbia took the lead first after Athena Wheeler blasted a home run to left field for a solo RBI, making it 1-0 in the second. In the third, Bailey Merritt bunted and made it to first on an error from the Knights; the error allowed Suzanna Shanks to advance from first to second and then to third and, ultimately, to home for an unearned run. Trailing 0-2 in the bottom of the third, the Knights used a base hit to score a runner and cut the deficit to one, 1-2. 

In the top of the fourth, Tasia Green launched another home run for the Cougars for two RBIs, extending Columbia’s lead to 4-1. After a double from Marian scored a run in the bottom of the sixth, the Knights looked to cut Columbia’s lead even smaller as they had a runner on base. A strike out from Ella Schouten for the third out halted the Knights from gaining any more momentum. 

Heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars needing a big defensive effort to close out the win. A line out followed by a pop out gave the Cougars the first two outs before a ground out ended the game, giving the 4-2 win to Columbia. 

Ella Schouten finished the game with 12 strike outs and only one earned run. 

The Cougars now wait to see who their opponent will be as Middle Georgia State University takes on Tennessee Wesleyan tonight in an elimination game. The winner of that game will advance to play Marian tomorrow in another elimination game, while the winner of that game will play Columbia in the bracket championship. The Cougars only need one win to claim the bracket title, while they would need to lose twice to be eliminated.