Duncan and Sherwin lead Red Storm to West Region 2 Championship Game

DSU will play winner of UC San Diego/Central Washington at 12 p.m.

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ST. GEORGE, Utah – For the second day in a row the Dixie State University softball team rallied from behind to secure a 5-3 win over University of California, San Diego in the winner bracket of the NCAA D2 Softball West Regional at Karl Brooks Field.

The Red Storm (46-8) victory puts them in the championship game for the third straight season and extends its winning streak to 23-games.

The sixth-seeded Tritons (34-17) upset the #4 ranked and third-seeded Humboldt State yesterday and started right where they left off. Callie Grant led the UCSD first inning off with a single up the middle. A sacrifice bunt advanced the speedy Grant to second base. Amani Proctor followed with an infield single to shortstop and the Tritons pressured Red Storm starter Michelle Duncan (Gilbert, AZ/Gilbert High School).

The quick UCSD team scored first on a double steal and McKenna Clewett followed with a RBI single up of the middle to give UCSD a 2-0 advantage.

Triton starter Jennifer Manuel held the potent Red Storm offense at bay as she allowed just two hits in four innings. Her offense added an unearned run in the third frame to take a 3-0 lead.

DSU finally managed to put some pressure on Manuel in the fifth, Brooke Budge (Springville, UT/Springville High School) hit a sharp single down the left field line and Josey Hartman (Mapleton, UT/Maple Mountain) and Bailee Freeland (Ogden, UT/Bonneville High School) followed with perfectly laid infield bunts to load the bases.

Nicole Chavez (Chino Hills, CA/Ayala High School) drew a bases loaded walk to score for the first DSU run and force a pitching visit from the Triton head coach Patty Gerkens. After the visit, Courtney Hine (San Dimas, CA/San Dimas High School) deposited the first pitch into centerfield for an RBI single and cut the UCSD lead to 3-2.

Triton reliever Alexis Edwards had the task of facing the red-hot Courtney Sherwin (Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain High School) who hit a sacrifice liner to centerfield and score Freeland scored the equalizer from third base. Sheila Gelter (St. George, UT/Dixie High School) followed with a dribbler up the middle to give DSU a 4-3 lead.

Duncan threw a perfect fifth, turned away a Triton rally in the sixth, and forced a 1-2-3 in the seventh and pick up her second victory of the tournament. She improved to 17-1 on the season.

In the seventh inning, Sherwin hit her second home run of the tournament and ninth on the season and extend her reached base streak to 31-games.

DSU had eight hits and was lead by Freeland and Hine who had two hits each. The Tritons had six and McKenna Clewett had three of those.

The Red Storm advance to the Championship game tomorrow at 12 p.m. at Karl Brooks Field as they Central Washington who defeated UC San Diego 10-1 in the final game of the day.

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