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