Nebraska Omaha Advances to Regional Final

CANYON, Texas (UNO Media Relations) - The 15th-ranked UNO softball team will have a chance to win its first regional championship since 2007 on Sunday, after a 13-inning 2-1 victory over St. Mary's in the South Central 2 Regional semifinal at Lady Buff Yard on Saturday.

Tied 1-1 after seven innings, the teams needed six more innings to break the deadlock. In the top of the 13th inning,Amber Lutmer hit a liner to center field to score Lauren Larson from second for the 2-1 Maverick lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Beth Haley finished off 13 straight innings pitched to clinch the win for the Mavericks and send UNO to the regional title game.

The Mavericks, now 47-9 on the year, move on to the championship game, set to begin Sunday at 2 p.m. Should the Mavs lose that game, a second game will follow at 4:30 p.m. to determine who will move on to the NCAA Super Regionals next weekend. The Mavs will face top-seeded West Texas A&M, who battled back through the losers' bracket with two wins on Saturday to advance to the championship.

Playing as the visiting team by way of a pre-game coin flip, the second-seeded Mavericks got the scoring started when Katelyn Hinton hit a solo home run to left center to lead off the top of the second inning. The homer was Hinton's seventh of the year.

Fourth-seeded St. Mary's knotted the score at 1-1 in the fourth inning when Jared Gonzalez connected on a sacrifice fly to score Chelsea Wenske.

The Mavericks nearly regained the lead in the sixth inning. With Jamie Nash on second, Lindsey Slocum hit a sharp liner to left field. Nash rounded third and headed home, but Lauren Miller's throw to the plate was on the money, and Kelly Baker applied the tag to end the inning and keep things tied.

Both Haley and Rattler ace Emily Brittain continued their dominance throughout the extra innings. The Mavs were bolstered by strong defensive play, committing no errors in 13 innings. In the decisive 13th, Larson led off with a single to right field. After a Hinton flyout to left field, Slocum walked, bringing to the plate Lutmer. The Millard West grad sent a liner to center field, scoring Larson from second and moving Slocum to third.

Haley mowed down the Rattlers in the 13th, finishing with just one run allowed on 10 hits, while striking out four and walking two in improving to 22-3 on the season.

The Rattlers (36-20) will face the winner of No. 1 West Texas A&M and No. 4 Missouri Western on Saturday night for the other spot in the championship game.