HATTIESBURG, Miss. (May 17, 2022) – Following a tight 2-1 victory over No. 14 Marian University in yesterday's matchup, the Webber International University softball team faced Bryan College after their upset of No. 1-seeded William Carey University. The Warriors would earn the walk-off victory after nine innings, 3-2.
 
Sophomore Kayla Swinson would start on the mound for the Warriors (41-21) for second game in a row. She would allow two runs on four hits and strike out two in her four innings of action. Morgan Mills would enter the game in relief in the fifth inning, pitching a perfect five innings. She would retire all 15 batters she faced, earning two strikeouts as well.
 
The Lions (31-17) would get on the board first in the top of the second inning. With two outs in the inning, a single followed by a walk would put runners on first and second. Then, a double to left field would bring in both runners before a popout to second base would end the inning and give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
 
The Warriors would be kept hitless until Mary-Margaret Maggard would hit a ball deep into left field that would one-hop off the wall for a stand-up double with two outs in the fourth inning. However, a flyout to left field with the next at-bat would end the inning for Webber.
 
After a one-two-three top of the fifth for the Warriors, Witney Bones would send a lead-off double over the head of the right fielder. Savanah Jacobs entered the game as a pinch runner and would advance to third on a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly to center field from Brandy Barquin would bring home the first run of the game for Webber, cutting the Lions lead in half.
 
In the bottom of inning number six, Kelsea Friend would send a bloop single into shallow left-center field to give the Warriors a one-out base runner. After stealing second to get into scoring position, Friend would then steal third and subsequently make her way home as nobody was covering third base and the catcher's throw would end up in left field. The run would knot the game up at two apiece heading into the seventh inning.
 
The Warriors would hold the Lions scoreless in the top of the seventh and hit a lead-off single in the bottom half via Maddie Houtz. However, pinch-runner Taylor Bias would get stranded at third base and the game would head to extra innings.
 
The game would remain tied until the bottom of the ninth inning. A lead-off single from Thompson followed by a double to left field from Maggard would put runners on second and third. The Lions would then intentionally walk Maddie Houtz to load the bases with nobody out. Bryan's pitcher would strike out the next two batters to make it two outs with the bases loaded. With a 2-2 count, Brandy Barquin would hit a ball deep to left-center field for a walk-off single that would punch the Warriors' ticket to the championship game.
 
Webber will now play in the championship game tomorrow, Wednesday, May 18, at 11:00 a.m. The Warriors will face the winner of tonight's matchup between Bryan College and the winner of the game between Marian University and William Carey.