Brackets, scores, video links, and live stats links for the Morningside Bracket of the 2016 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round

The Elizabeth and Irving F. Jensen Softball Complex will be the site for the Morningside Bracket of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round from May 16-18.

The winner of the Morningside Bracket will advance to the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series presented by Security National Bank and Morningside College to be held May 27 to June 2 at the Jensen Softball Complex.

A video only stream for all games in the Morningside Bracket can be accessed here.

 

NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round
Morningside Bracket
May 16-18
Jensen Softball Complex, Sioux City, IA
 

Monday, May 16
Game 1 – #2 Morningside 9, #3 Grand View 6    Box Score

Game 2 – #4 Great Falls 4, #1 Campbellsville 1    Box Score
 

Tuesday, May 17
Game 3 – Morningside 4, Great Falls 1     Box Score

Game 4 – Campbellsville 8, Grand View 2 (8)    Box Score

Game 5 – Great Falls 5, Campbellsville 1     Box Score
 

Wednesday, May 18
Game 6 – Morningside 8, Great Falls 5    Box Score

Championship Game  Recap

Morningside advanced to the NAIA Softball World Series when it defeated Great Falls 8-5 in Wednesday’s championship game of the Morningside Bracket of the 2016 NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round in Sioux City.

The Mustangs have been in the NAIA national tournament field seven times in the last eight years, but this will be their first time as one of the last 10 teams standing since the NAIA moved to its current format four years ago.

Morningside will take a 47-8 record and a No. 15 national ranking into the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series slated for May 27 to June 2 at Morningside’s Elizabeth & Irving F. Jensen Softball Complex.

Great Falls, the “Cinderella” team of the Morningside Bracket as the only one of the four teams without a national ranking, created some anxious moments for the Mustangs when Hali Gruntowicz slugged a grand slam home run, her first round tripper of the season, to give the Argos a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

Morningside answered with a big inning of its own when it plated five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good at 8-4. All five runs were unearned thanks to a pair of Great Falls errors in the inning.

The Mustangs tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single by Moriah Bohlmann and went ahead to stay when Rachel Koch delivered a run scoring single to put the Mustangs up 5-4. McKenzie Anderson had a RBI single later in the inning and two other runs came home when Allie Martinez was hit by a pitch and Morgan Fogelman walked, both with the bases loaded.

Doubles by the Argos’ Alex Lowry and Alissa Keeler produced a run in the top of the fifth inning and the guests had runners at first and third when pinch-hitter Kylie Prough laced a line drive that Mustang third baseman Abby Conner speared to end the inning.

Morningside began the game by scoring two runs in the first and another run in the second to take an early 3-0 lead. An RBI double by Martinez and a sacrifice fly by Anderson accounted for the Mustangs’ first inning runs before Elin Landgren doubled home a run in the second.

Anderson, Conner, and Koch each had two hits to pace a nine-hit Morningside offensive attack.

Lowrey had a double and single for Great Falls, which also finished with nine hits.

Morningside pitcher Aubrey Voboril allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits after she relieved Mustang starter Rachel Henks in the third inning. Voboril (21-2) struck out one and didn’t walk a batter. Henks allowed two runs on one hit with one walk and one strikeout in two plus innings.

Argo starter Shelby Abeyta allowed seven runs, three earned, on six hits before she was relieved by Keeley Van Blaricom with one out in the fourth inning. Van Blaricom allowed one unearned run on three hits in 2.2 innings. She walked one and struck out one.

Great Falls bowed out with a record of 27-20.

 

Day Two Recap

Fifteenth-ranked Morningside defeated Great Falls 4-1 in Tuesday’s winner’s bracket final to advance to Wednesday’s championship game in the Morningside Bracket of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round in Sioux City.

The Mustangs will take a 46-8 record and a seven-game winning streak into the championship game against Great Falls, which defeated No. 4 Campbellsville 5-1 in Tuesday’s loser’s bracket final.

The winner of the Morningside Bracket will advance to the 2016 NAIA Softball World Series slated for May 27 to June 2 at Morningside’s Jensen Softball Complex. Great Falls (27-19) will have to defeat Morningside twice in Wednesday’s final of the double-elimination Morningside Bracket in order to advance.

Morningside’s Aubrey Voboril, the 2016 GPAC Pitcher of the Year, was in control all the way in Tuesday’s win against Great Falls. Voboril stymied the Argos with a two-hitter that included one walk and six strikeouts. The outcome made a 20-game winner out of Voboril (20-2) and improved the Mustangs’ record to 46-8 to tie a school record for wins in a season previously set in a 46-11 campaign in 2011.

Voboril was perfect through four innings before the Argos’ Hali Gruntowicz worked her for a walk to lead off the fifth inning. Voboril also lost her no-hit and shutout bids later in the inning when Alissa Keeler blooped a two-out single into shallow center field that plated Paige Bodner, who was in the game as a pinch-runner for Gruntowicz.

The Argos’ only other hit came in the seventh inning when Alex Lowry singled to right field and was thrown out at second base trying to advance.

Great Falls ace Keeley Van Blaricom held Morningside scoreless for two innings before the Mustangs broke through for two runs in the third when Rachel Koch blasted a two-run home run to open the scoring. Koch’s blast, her seventh of the season, came with Moriah Bohlmann on base after she had rifled a single to center field to start the inning.

The Mustangs stretched their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning when McKenzie Anderson led off with a single and came home on a two-out single by Mara Amsberry.

Morningside scored its final run in the sixth when Morgan Fogelman walked and came home on a two-out infield single by Elin Landgren.

The Mustangs collected nine hits against Van Blaricom (13-8), who walked one and struck out three.

Koch had two hits with a home run and single and Bohlmann also had two hits with a pair of singles.

Great Falls stayed alive with its win against Campbellsville in the loser’s bracket final to eliminate the bracket’s No. 1 seed. It was the Argos’ second win of the tournament against Campbellsville, which bowed out with a record of 49-10.

Argo pitcher Shelby Abeyta shook off a home run pitch she served up to Jacqueline Roof to start the game to finish with a complete game four-hitter. Abeyta struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter to level her season’s record at 6-6.

Great Falls matched Roof’s leadoff home run when Alex Lowry blasted a solo shot with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the score at 1-1.

The Argos opened a 3-1 lead on RBI singles by Mindy Larson and Gruntowicz in the bottom of the third inning and then made it a 5-1 game when Kylie Prough delivered a two-run pinch-hit single with two outs in the fifth.

Great Falls collected 11 hits against a trio of Campbellsville pitchers. Jocelyn Kaufman went three-for-three with a double, Lowry had a home run and single, Larson had two singles, and Gruntowicz had two singles.

Campbellsville defeated Grand View 8-2 in eight innings in Tuesday’s elimination game between Monday’s two first round losers.

The Tigers scored six runs on five hits in the top of the eighth to break a 2-2 tie. Campbellsville took a 3-2 lead on a RBI double by Madison Mudd. The Tigers stretched the lead to 4-2 on a RBI single by Shelby Ray and then broke the game open when Hailey Szpila belted a grand slam home run for her sixth blast of the campaign.

Grand View had rallied for a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the score at 2-2 and eventually force extra innings. It took the Vikings just two batters to tie the game when Kendra Tott led off with a triple and came home on a RBI single by Abbey Wilmes.

Winning pitcher Victoria Decker pitched a complete game five-hitter for the Tigers to improve her record to 28-5. Decker walked three and fanned three.

Ray, Mudd, and Brittany Rippy all had two hits for Campbellsville.

Grand View finished the season with a record of 43-11.

 

Day One Recap

Morningside and Great Falls advanced to Tuesday’s winner’s bracket final with victories in Monday’s first round action in the Morningside Bracket of the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round.

Morningside, the tournament host and No. 2 seed, staged a five-run rally in the top of the seventh inning to overcome a 6-4 deficit and defeat No. 3 seed Grand View 9-6 before No. 4 seed Great Falls became the “Cinderella” team of the bracket with a 4-1 upset win against top seed Campbellsville.

The Argos, making their first-ever appearance in the NAIA Opening Round, knocked off a red-hot Campbellsville team that is ranked fourth in the nation and rolled into Sioux City with 33 wins in its last 34 games. 

Winning pitcher Keeley Van Blaricom (13-7) twirled a four-hitter for Great Falls (26-18) by pitching to contact with one walk and two strikeouts. Van Blaricom retired Campbellsville’s first seven batters of the game and had a 4-0 lead to work with when Brittany Rippy singled to center field with one out in the bottom of the third inning for the Tigers’ first hit of the game.

Victoria Decker also pitched a four-hitter for Campbellsville (48-9), but was victimized by some shaky defensive support when the Argos capitalized on a pair of Tiger errors to open the scoring with three unearned runs in the top of the second inning. The Argos had two hits in the inning, including a RBI single by Jocelyn Kaufman to drive in the last run of the inning.

Great Falls stretched its lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning when Alex Lowry led off with a single and eventually scored on a RBI single by Van Blaricom, who had two of her team’s four hits.

The Tigers broke Van Blaricom’s shutout bid in the bottom of the sixth when Shelby Ray led off with a walk, advanced to third on a double by Brianna Scott, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Rebecca Miller.

Decker (27-5) allowed only one earned run on four hits to take the loss. She retired the Argos’ final 12 batters of the game after she walked Kaufman to start the fourth inning,

Campbellsville will try to stay alive in the double elimination Morningside Bracket when it faces 23rd-ranked Grand View (43-10) in a Tuesday elimination game at 1:30 p.m.

Fifteenth-ranked Morningside (45-8) staged a dramatic last inning rally to snap Grand View’s seven-game winning streak and move within one victory of matching its school record of 46 wins in a 46-11 2011 campaign.

The Mustangs’ seventh inning fireworks came after Grand View had staged a big sixth inning rally of its own when it scored six runs in the bottom of the frame to erase a 4-0 Morningside advantage. Abbey Wilmes, a returning second-team All-American, provided the big blow when she blasted a grand slam home run, her team-high 12th round tripper of the season, to put the Vikings in front at 5-4. The Vikings went to the long ball again one out later when pinch-hitter Kate Crow went deep for her seventh home run of the season to put Grand View up 6-4.

Morningside’s winning rally began with one out in the top of the seventh when Grand View ace Claudia Farrell, a second-team All-American last year as a freshman, hit the Mustangs’ Elin Landgren with a pitch.

Landgren advanced to second on a single by Rachel Koch and then scored on the combination of an infield single by Abby Conner and a Grand View throwing error. The Mustangs tied the score at 6-6 on a RBI single by McKenzie Anderson and then took a 7-6 lead on a RBI single by Emilee Dorpinghaus, who went three-for-four and drove in four of the Mustangs’ nine runs in the victory. Mara Amsberry padded the Mustangs’ lead to 9-6 when she delivered a two-out, two-run single.

Mustang starter Aubrey Voboril, who blanked the Vikings on one hit over the first five innings before she was relieved with two runners on base and no outs in the bottom of the sixth, re-entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and retired Grand View in order to earn a save.

Voboril allowed two runs on one hit with two walks and four strikeouts in six innings of work.

Farrell finished with 10 strikeouts, but the Mustangs were able to solve her for 11 hits and force her into throwing 154 pitches, including 46 in a two-run first inning.

The Mustangs capitalized on a dropped fly ball in the outfield to plate a pair of unearned runs in the first inning on a double off the center field fence by Dorpinghaus.

Morningside made it 3-0 in the top of the fourth on a solo home run by Dorpinghaus and then padded its lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth when Koch doubled and came home on a single by Conner.

Dorpinghaus had three hits for the Mustangs with a home run, double, and single. The Mustangs also received multiple hit performances from Koch with a double and single and Conner with a pair of singles.