CONWAY, Ark. -- The Bellevue University softball team won its second-straight Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title after defeating No. 23 and top-seeded Central Baptist College, 7-4, Friday.
Bellevue (35-15) has now won 12 conference tournament championships in program history and will advance to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on May 12-14. The pairings for the 40-team NAIA Opening Round Tournament will be announced at 7 p.m. on May 6.
The Mustangs fell to 35-9 with the loss.
Nine different players recorded hits as the Bruins outhit CBC by eight, 14-6.
Katie Malloy went 3-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored while Ashley Gigax, Augusta Ratliff and Sydney Robertson each finished with two hits.
The Bruins raced out to a quick 2-0 advantage in the first inning after a Gigax triple and a Malloy double.
CBC tied the contest at 2-2 after scoring on a pair of Bruin errors in the third.
BU regained the lead in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs on five hits. Katy Shupe registered a two-run single while Shelby Kindelin and Kristin Burhenne also tallied RBI hits in the frame.
The Bruins added to their lead on a sacrifice fly by Burhenne in the sixth inning.
The Mustangs scored a pair of runs in the seventh, but a strikeout and groundout ended the game to make the final, 7-4.
Taylor Mohler picked up the win in relief after striking out seven in 4.2 innings to move to 17-7 on the season.
Jessica Sheldon (21-6) took the loss for the Mustangs and gave up three runs on nine hits in four innings of work.
