CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The University of Charleston women's softball team was victorious in each of their two games Friday afternoon at the UC Softball Field to advance to Saturday's final of the NCAA Division II Softball Atlantic Region II Championship.  The Golden Eagles picked up a dramatic 13-inning 2-1 win over Lock Haven University to begin the day and followed with a 3-1 defeat of Kutztown University that saw UC pitcher Alli Burdette set a career-high in strikeouts with 12 K's.
 
GAME 1
 
Charleston and Lock Haven continued yesterday's game that was postponed until 10:00 a.m. this morning due to persistent rain that plagued all of Thursday afternoon and evening.  The game picked up in the 10^th inning with the Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles locked in a 0-0 tie.  After a scoreless 10^th and 11^th inning, Lock Haven finally broke the scoreless game in the 12^th after a McKenna Garlock single through the middle brought around Faith Ceely from second to take a 1-0 lead.  Garlock later tried to score on single to Rachelle Toppings in right field, but Toppings fired a strike to Bethany Williams at the plate to keep it a 1-0 game.
 
UC, facing a 1-0 deficit and down to their last out, got three consecutive singles by Alyssa Stanley, Allison Evans, and Rachelle Toppings to even the game at 1-1 after 12 innings, extending it one more frame.  Lock Haven got a runner in scoring position in the 13^th but Alli Burdette reentered the game for Jessie Rowe to get the final two outs of the inning to set up the fireworks in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Laura Ashlock, who had gone hitless against Haven's Bekah Slattery in her previous four at-bats, got a pitch belt-high that she launched over the left-centerfield fence that still may be going.  It was a walk-off HR for Ashlock, her 13^th round-tripper of the season but none as important as this one.
 
Burdette earned the win for Charleston, her 28^th of the year, to move UC into the winner's bracket game with Kutztown later in the day.
 
GAME 2
 
Charleston squared off with Kutztown who had advanced to Friday's winners bracket game after defeating West Chester 5-4 on Thursday.  UC's Rachelle Toppings picked up her second RBI of the day to get the scoring started for the Golden Eagles, plating Alyssa Stanley with a single to left center that gave UC a 1-0 lead after three innings.
 
Alli Burdette was locked in from the circle against the Golden Bears, striking out 12 KU batters over the seven innings of play.  UC added to their 1-0 lead in the sixth, scoring a pair of runs after loading the bases from RBI hits from Jenna Evans and Alyssa Stanley.  Kutztown's Danielle Amato got a run back in the bottom half of the sixth, belting a solo HR to trim UC's lead to 3-1 going into the seventh and final inning.
 
Burdette worked an easy final inning putting Charleston in the NCAA DII Atlantic Region II Championship set to be played Saturday at noon at the UC Softball Field.
 
Charleston will again face off with Kutztown after the Golden Bears eliminated West Chester to set up the rematch.  A win by the Golden Eagles will put them in the Atlantic Superregional Final that will be played next weekend.