ST. LOUIS – With a pair of wins versus top-ranked Missouri-St. Louis Saturday evening, the UIndy softball team won the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional and punched its ticket to the national championships.  Down 0-1 in the best-of-three series, the Greyhounds (47-13) downed the Tritons (48-8) by scores of 6-0 and 7-3.
 
UIndy will make its second-ever "World Series" appearance next week in Oklahoma City, Okla.  The Hounds drew the Southeast Region champion, sixth-ranked North Georgia, May 21 at 3:30 p.m.  Find the official tournament homepage bracket here.

NOTES
-The Midwest was the only one of the eight Super Regionals to go three games.  All other venues ended in a two-game sweep.
-The last time the Hounds qualified for the NCAA Championships (2009), they also lost game one but swept games two and three to advance.
-UMSL pitcher Hannah Perryman had lost only three games all season heading into the Super Regional.  The Hounds handed her two losses on Saturday.

GAME 2 | UIndy 6, UMSL 0
After a four-and-a-half hour rain and lightning delay bullied its way into the middle of yesterday's series opener, the weather did not relent Saturday, at least not through the morning and much of the afternoon. Today's first pitch was ultimately pushed back five-plus hours.  Thankfully the weather cooperated quite nicely after the game got going.
 
Anxiously awaiting another shot at the Tritons, junior pitcher Morgan Foley more than delivered, scattering five hits and three walks while fanning a baker's dozen.  UIndy's top gun finished her eighth shutout of the season by stranding the bases loaded in the seventh.
 
Things did not go as smoothly for UMSL ace Hannah Perryman, as the NFCA Player of the Year finalist was charged with four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings of work.
 
The Hounds sprung out of the gate with two early tallies.  Senior Taylor Russell blasted a two-run shot to left in the first inning, plating sister Sydney.
 
In the fourth, T. Russell remained a thorn in Perryman's side, picking up her second hit in as many at bats.  The St. Charles, Ill., native singled through the hole on the left side and later scored on Natalie Lalich's infield knock.
 
UIndy kept the pedal down with a three-run fifth.  The snowball started rolling when Taylor Weck singled and immediately advanced to second on an error, ushering an early exit for Perryman.
 
Things got worse for reliever Brittani Chapman, who allowed four hits and a hit batsman before injury forced her from the game.  In the meantime, Casey Williamson and T. Russell garnered RBI hits, while Weck, Katie Kelly and Williamson all scored.
 
T. Russell finished 3-for-3 at the dish with four ribbies and two runs.  Her dinger in the third was good for career home run No. 45, upping her school-record total.
 
Kelly added a pair of singles and a stolen base, hitting in the leadoff spot for the first time this season.

GAME 3 | UIndy 7, UMSL 3
The finale featured the same lineups for both teams, pitting Foley against Perryman for the fifth time this season and third of the weekend.
 
The two rivals battled to a 2-2 stlaemate until the bottom of the sixth when UIndy hung a five-spot on the board to all but clinch it.  Back-to-back doubles from S. Russell and Williamson started the rally, with the latter both chasing Perryman and plating the go-ahead run.
 
The floodgates opened from that point, as a Jessie Noone walk, an RBI single from Lalich and a two-run double by Erika Goodwin all but buried the talented Triton team.
 
In the circle, Foley (38-8) went the distance again, striking out 10 while allowing six hits.
 
At the plate, a Russell once again finished 3-for-3, but this time it was Sydney, who also added two runs.  Lalich hit her third home run of the NCAA Tournament in fourth inning, tying the game at 2-2.