SALEM, Va. — No. 19 Central Oklahoma pounded out 16 hits and eliminated fourth-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University, 14-1, in five innings in the NCAA DII Softball Championship semifinals Sunday afternoon at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex.
The Pirates, who were making their first national semifinal appearance, saw their best season in school history come to a close with a 44-10-1 record. Central Oklahoma (50-11) earned a berth in today’s national championship game against either Kutztown or Grand Valley State.
The Bronchos got on the board in the first inning on an sacrifice fly by Sam Cool, but the Pirates answered with a solo home run by Shelby Duff, her 10th home run of the season. With the home run, Duff also tied the career runs scored mark at Armstrong at 152.
Central Oklahoma took control in the second inning as Kaylee Brunson drove in two with a two-run single, then Kacie Edwards followed with a two-run home run to make it 5-1. The Bronchos added three runs in the fourth and six in the fifth to put the finishing touches on the win.
“Everything we did they seemed to have an answer for,” Armstrong head coach Ted Evans said. “ Sometimes you get into these kinds of games and somebody seems like they’ve really got it it going. Speed, all the attributes (that they have) and it put us on our heels a bit and we didn’t respond to it like I thought we would.”
Kalynn Schrock (33-6) picked up her second win of the tournament over the Pirates with five innings of three-hit one-run ball, walking one while striking out six.
Megan Barnwell (27-6) took the loss, giving up five hits and five runs — one earned — in two innings of work.
Brunson went 4 for 4 with two RBIs while Nicole Workman and Hayley Hudson each went 3 for 4 to lead Central Oklahoma.
Duff accounted for all of the Pirates’ hits while going 3 for 3.
“We’ve got eight starting players returning next year, and we’re very excited about that,” Evans said. “I don’t think there is a thing you can replace experience with. This is a really big stage and sometimes you saw it, expecially with our freshmen. Everything is multiplied. Hopefully, that will transition into something really good next year.”
The Pirates lose five seniors from this season’s squad — Duff, Barnwell, Ashley Schwab, Bethany Wilke and Brittany Cooley — and return 11 players for 2014.