CONWAY, Ark. -- A suicide squeeze bunt by Katy Shupe scored Alyssa Matoba in the bottom of the seventh, giving the Bellevue University softball team a dramatic, 2-1, victory over Oklahoma Wesleyan University Thursday in the opening round of the MCAC Tournament at City of Colleges Park.
The Bruins (33-15) will play the tournament's top seed and host Central Baptist College at 6 p.m. tonight. Oklahoma Wesleyan (25-28) will battle College of St. Mary at 4 p.m. in a loser's bracket contest. CBC defeated the Flames, 3-1, in eight innings in the tournament's first contest.
Despite collecting five hits in the first two innings, the Bruins left four baserunners stranded, pushing just one run across on a bases-loaded ground-out RBI by Shelby Kindelin, giving Bellevue a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
The Eagles tied the contest at 1-1 in the top of the third after Miranda Kiser scored on a wild pitch from Bruin starter Taylor Mohler.
Matoba reached first on an error by Eagle first baseman Leanne Salas to open the bottom of the seventh. She reached second on a single by Kindelin and third on a sacrifice bunt by Sydney Robertson, before Shupe brought her home on the suicide squeeze to end the game.
Mohler (16-7) recorded the complete-game win, tossing a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts and three walks in seven innings of work.
