CHARLESTON, W.Va. – UC's unbeaten 2016 NCAA Tournament continued in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon at the UC Softball Field, defeating Kutztown University 7-3 in the Atlantic Region II Championship game.
 
The win moves the Golden Eagles (48-9) into the NCAA DII Atlantic Super Regional to be held Wednesday and Thursday in Buckhannon, hosted by the Atlantic Region #1 seed West Virginia Wesleyan College. The Super Regional will be decided in a best-of-3 format with the winner advancing to the NCAA DII Softball Championships in Denver, Colorado.
 
Kutztown opened the scoring in the 2^nd inning as Golden Bear first baseman Gabby Tareila hit a solo shot over Alyssa Stanley's outstretched arm in left field to take a 1-0 lead.  Charleston quickly bounced back, plating one of their own in the bottom half of the inning on a Jenna Evans single to right that was misplayed by the Bear right fielder allowing Alayna Carlson to make her way around from first. 
 
UC loaded the bases in the third for Golden Eagle third baseman Kelly Browning who layed down a perfectly executed squeeze to score two runs after an error by the Bear first baseman on an errant throw home.  Charleston tacked on two more runs in the bottom half of third on an illegal pitch that scored Katelyn Hamilton and Bethany Williams sacrifice fly to bring in Browning.  The Golden Eagles led 5-1 after three innings.
 
Charleston added to their lead in the 4^th inning on a bases loaded sacrifice fly that scored Stanley from third followed by a Laura Ashlock single that drove in speedy Allison Evans from second.  Charleston carried a 7-1 lead to the 6^th.
 
Kutztown, a team that had rallied from four runs down earlier in the week, wasn't going to go away easily and put some pressure on UC in the 6^th.  The Golden Bears put the first two runners on forcing Coach Ray Loeser to make a change in the circle for the Golden Eagles, putting Jessie Rowe in for starter Alli Burdette.  Burdette's stat line was five innings pitched allowing three runs on four hits and four strikeouts.  Rowe allowed the inherited runners to score but effectively traded outs for runs to keep Kutztown from having a big inning.  A scoreless bottom half of the inning led to Charleston looking to close the door leading 7-3.
 
Lawes opened the inning with a single up the middle that Rowe couldn't handle, but Rowe being the ground ball pitcher she is got the next three Golden Bears to ground out with the final out coming on a softly hit ball to Jenna Evans at second.  Evans fielded it cleanly and made the routine throw to Ashlock at first to end the game.  The Golden Eagles rushed the circle knowing they had just made Golden Eagle softball history by advancing to its first ever NCAA DII Softball Super Regional.