Kentucky Wesleyan Tripped Up by UMSL in NCAA Midwest Regional

5.12.17

NCAA Championship Regional Bracket (PDF)


ST. LOUIS, Mo.
– A pair of grand slams aided top-seeded Missouri-St. Louis in a first-round NCAA Championship Midwest Regional win against Great Midwest conference champion Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
The eighth-seeded Panthers (38-21 overall) earned their first league tournament title in Xenia, Ohio, before drawing the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region 1 pod hosted by the No. 1 seed Tritons.
 
UMSL (40-13) won in five innings by a score of 11-1. The Tritons face No. 1 Wayne State (MI) in the next round.
 
KWC will play No. 5 Truman State on Friday at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The winner would advance to play the loser Wayne State/UMSL while the losing team would officially be eliminated from the postseason.
 
Alex Stupek and Serena Olson each cleared the bases with grand slams for the Tritons, who had 11 hits to match their run total.
 
KWC went into its first national tournament appearance by tying the school’s single-season win record set back in 1986.
 
The Panthers threatened against UMSL ace Carly Kingery in the top of the first inning, loading the bases with one out. But Kingery was able to retire the next two batters on strikes to tightrope out of the jam.
 
KWC’s Autumn Grady, a three-time G-MAC Pitcher of the Week this spring, was tagged with the loss.
 
G-MAC Freshman of the Year Jaylin Tidwell doubled as the Panthers scratched out four hits as a team.