FULTON, Mo. - Westminster softball swept Spalding to clinch its second straight SLIAC regular-season title.
Westminster finishes the regular season with a record of 20-16 and a conference-best record of 16-2.
"I'm just really proud of these women," said Westminster Head Coach Joe Henderson. "They've had a tough week of travel, games, missed classes, and stress and they managed to pull this off."
This is the second reason in a row that the Blue Jays clinched the regular-season championship outright title, after defeating Greenville in the final series of the year a season ago.
In game one, Westminster only managed to score in the first and second innings, but it proved to be more than enough to earn the win.
Madison Washington picked up the first RBI of the game in the bottom of the first inning, singling to score Brooke Laidley.
In the second inning, Westminster loaded the bases on hits from Emily Holloway, Laidley, and Callie Collier. Laidley scored on a wild pitch, but the next pitch Amber Tepen hit out of the park to score three more runs and make the score 5-0.
Spalding managed to pick up two runs in the third inning, but Westminster played four innings of shutout softball to secure the victory.
Katie Price picked up the win, pitching all seven innings and giving up two runs on five hits.
In game two, Spalding got on the board first in the first inning, but Westminster didn't allow the Golden Eagles to score again in the next six innings.
The big inning for the Blue Jays was in the third, which started out on a single from Tepen to score Collier. Washington kept the rally going with another single to centerfield, scoring Holloway, and Aubrie Vaughn capped off the inning with a single to right to score two more runs, putting Westminster up 4-1.
Washington continued her hot hotting streak in the fifth, icing the game for the Blue Jays with a long home run to left field, making the final score 5-1.
Madison Ingram picked up the win for Westminster, pitching all seven innings and giving up one run on seven hits.
"Madison was particularly great today," said Henderson. "It is great to win the regular season, but the tournament is critical this year. That is our ultimate goal."
Westminster awaits its conference tournament opponent with the conclusion of the SLIAC regular season Sunday. The Blue Jays will face the No. 4 seed Thursday at ABC Park in St. Ann, Mo. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
