Softball

UNO Wins NCAA North Central Region

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.

"Going into the tournament, I couldn't believe we had a shot," Scarpello said. "But the players believed they could, and they never stopped believing."

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.

That's when Scarpello went to the senior Kuster. "Missy (Negrete) can get the ground balls, but Kuster can get the strikeouts," Scarpello said. "Emporia State is a good hitting team and they were making adjustments."

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 Mavs on the all-tournament team included Negrete, Leslie Svoboda and Chanel Reaves.

"We're going to enjoy this on the bus ride home, but we can't be complacent," Scarpello said. "It's anyone's game when you get to nationals. The hardest part is getting through the regional."

Emporia State.....002 010 0 - 3 7 0
Nebraska-Omaha....040 010 x - 5 9 3
WP-Melissa Negrete (14-8)
LP-Samantha Sheeley (19-6)
Save-Cheris Kuster (2)
2b-ESU, Dce, Viola; UNO, Jergenson, Sortino

--Courtesy gomavs.unomaha.edu