Photo credit: photos.paap.net

SALEM, V.A. --- The Minnesota State softball team captured its first national championship in program history after downing Angelo State, 5-1, in game two of the NCAA Championship Finals on Monday afternoon at the Moyer Sport Complex.

Minnesota State finishes the season with a program best 64-7 record which is the second-highest for a NCAA Division II National Champion. North Dakota State finished the 2000 season with a 68-10 overall record.  Angelo State takes the loss and finishes its season with a 60-7 overall record.

The last time Minnesota State won a NCAA Championship was in 2008-09 when women's basketball topped Franklin Pierce, 103-94, in San Antonio, TX.  The Mavericks have captured seven national championships as an athletic program. Wrestling has won three titles (1957-58 NAIA, 1958-59 NAIA, 1964-65 NCAA DIII) while men's hockey (1979 NCAA DII), men's cross country (1988 NCAA DII co-champions), women's basketball (2008-09 NCAA DII), and softball (2017 NCAA DII) have each claimed one.

Senior pitcher Coley Ries (41-3) closes her Maverick career with a 14 strikeout performance in a complete game. Senior Kenedy Urbany (21-2) tossed three strikeouts over 3.0 innings. Junior Morgan Hill finished the game for the Rambelles with three strikeouts in 3.0 innings of work.

Angelo State got two runners on in the top half of the second inning with a walked and hit batter. Ries then struck out the next batter to work the Mavericks out of the early jam. She went on to strikeout five of the first nine batters faced.

Minnesota State got on the scoreboard in the third frame after senior Ashley Thell drove her 16th double of the season to center field. The shot allowed sophomore McKenzie Paap to get across making the score 1-0. One inning later, senior Samantha Buhmann smashed a leadoff double to left field stealing the momentum. Freshman Carly Esselman then used a bunt allowing Buhmann to get home after an Angelo State error increasing the Mavericks lead to 2-0. The big inning continued for Minnesota State as Paap reached on a fielder's choice allowing Esselman to score and stretch the edge to 3-0.

Angelo State tried to rally in the sixth frame as senior Kenedy Urbany delivered her 16th home run of the season over the right field wall to pull within two runs, 3-1. Minnesota State retaliated in the bottom half adding insurance runs after junior Jess Meidl got a single to drop in left field scoring junior Alyssa Rickels and sophomore Cori Kennedy, 5-1, to put the game out of reach.

Minnesota State totaled nine hits as a team while Angelo State posted three. Esselman and Rickels set the pace with a game-best two hits each.

Following the game, Meidl, Rickels, Esselman, and Paap were named to the 2017 Division II All-Tournament Team while Ries was named the Most Outstanding Player.
 

 
-30-