McLennan Softball advance to quarterfinals with come-from-behind win

McLennan Softball came from behind to defeat second-seed Yavapai 4-3 in nine innings on Day 2 of the NJCAA National Championship in Yuma. Hailey Hudson went the full nine innings in the circle to claim the win and provided the walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth. Hudson recorded 10 strikeouts on the day.
 
Yavapai scored two runs in the top of the first. Mia Weckel led off with a solo home run. Lovey Kepa'a reached first and advanced to second on an error. Jasmine Moreno also reached on an error, bringing Kepa'a in to score.
 
McLennan got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth as Jenny Robison doubled and came around to score on a pair of wild pitches.
 
Yavapai added a run in the top of the seventh with Moreno's solo home run.
 
McLennan tied the game at three with back-to-back home runs by Riley Rutherford and Julia Herzinger in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Rutherford was hit by the pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and Herzinger reached on an error. Rutherford was put out advancing to third. Herzinger then advanced to second on an error and was replaced by pinch runner Caitlin Bradley-Tse. Bradley-Tse moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on Hudson's pinch-hit double.
 
McLennan will have 14th-seed Paris (Texas) at 2 p.m. (CT) Thursday in the quarterfinal round.
 
McLennan 4, Yavapai 3
Yavapai 200 000 100 – 3 6 2
McLennan 000 100 201 – 4 7 2
Emily Dix, Emily Darwin (8) and Jasmine Moreno. Hailey Hudson and Julia Herzinger. WP: Hudson; LP: Darwin. Leading hitters – Yavapai: Mia Weckel (1-4, HR, RBI) and Jasmine Moreno (2-4, HR, RBI); McLennan: Jenny Robison (1-4, 2B), Riley Rutherford (1-3, HR, RBI), Julia Herzinger (1-4, HR, RBI), Erin Plunkett (1-4, 2B) and Hailey Hudson (1-1, 2B, RBI). Record: McLennan 57-6 (30-2).