2003 National Championship Tournament Press Release
Saturday, May 17 - G18 – Mary (N.D.) (35-14) def.
Union (Tenn.) (45-13), 3-2
MARY OVERCOMES UNION RALLY TO ADVANCE IN NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP
May
19, 2003
DECATUR, Ala. – At the 23rd Annual NAIA Softball National Championship at Wilson Morgan Park in Decatur, Alabama, the University of Mary (N.D.) scored first and held onto a 3-2 victory over the #7-seeded Union University (Tenn.) in the loser’s bracket.
Mary put one run on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning when Amanda Hinton (1-for-4) scored after reaching on a single, stealing second base and advancing to third on an error. Hinton later scored on a sacrifice fly by teammate Neena Williams (3-for-3). Mary added another run in the top of the fifth inning. Williams led Mary in hitting going 3-for-3 with two RBI.
The Lady Bulldogs of Union rallied in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. Holly Haycraft (1-for-2) led off the inning with a single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch from Danelle Murphy. Decatur native Megan Quarry (1-for-3) singled to right field to move Haycraft to third base. With two outs, Amy Mejia (2-for-3) came to the plate and hit a double to score both Haycraft and Quarry.
In the top of the seventh inning, Mary added one more run to the scoreboard to complete the 3-2 upset over Union. Union completes their season with an overall record of 45-13 while Mary advances to play at 9 p.m. tonight.
-NAIA-View Game Stats
