UNO Wins North Central Region and Moves Onto Akron, Ohio
UNO scored four runs in the second inning and Cheris Kuster pitched three innings of one-hit relief to down No. 9 Emporia State, 5-3, Sunday to capture the NCAA II North Central Regional title and send the Mavericks to their sixth national tournament appearance.
Unranked UNO (34-18) swept through the eight-team tournament unbeaten at 4-0 as the No. 4 seed, along the way knocking off No. 1 seed Minnesota State and the No. 2 seeded Hornets. The Mavericks will make their first national tournament appearance since winning the title in 2001 under head coach Jeanne Scarpello.
The Mavericks broke out front in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Brianna Cataudella, a run-scoring double by Alison Jergenson and a two-run single by Kellyn Kramolisch.
The Hornets sliced the lead in half with two
runs on four hits in the top of the third and put their first two
runners on base in the fifth against freshman starter Melissa
Negrete (14-8) who started all four tournament games.
Kuster retired three straight after the first batter reached on an
error, melting UNO's lead to 4-3. She retired six of the final
seven batters she faced, yielding only a lead-off single in the
seventh.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks added an insurance run in the fifth when Brooke Wagner singled and scored on a single by Cataudella, who was named the tournament's most outstanding player. She batted .667 in the tournament.
Other NCC players on the all-tournament team
included UNO's Negrete, Leslie Svoboda and Chanel Reaves as well as
Minnesota State's Cindy Smith.