Box Score vs. WCU    Box Score vs. Oregon Tech
Gulf Shores, AL-The Belhaven softball team opened the bracket portion of the 2011 NAIA National Championships on Monday defeating rival William Carey University 5-2 in game one and advanced to take on Oregon Tech who got the better of the Blazers in the second game 4-2. Belhaven drops into the loser's bracket and will play Oklahoma City University Monday night at 5:30 for a chance to advance to the final four.

Game One vs. William Carey
Belhaven (48-11) fell behind after a half inning against the third ranked Crusaders thanks to a two run homer by Judy Barber. However, Blazer pitcher Sarah Burns would settle in and keep William Carey off the boards for the rest of the game giving the Belhaven bats a chance to come to life.

Belhaven chalked up their first run of the contest in the second inning on an RBI single by Lizzy Hess that plated Rachel Wright cutting the deficit to 2-1. Wright had opened the frame with a base hit through the left side of the infield. Two innings later in the fourth, Belhaven would strike for four more runs on three hits and were aided by two costly William Carey errors. Wright started the rally again by reaching on a one out double to right center followed by a walk to Chelsea Randle and a fielding error by Jeana Erickson allowed Katie Sanders to reach loading the bases for Hess. Hess once again came through with her second RBI base hit of the game to knot the score at 2-2.

Christina Jaques gave the Blazers the lead on an RBI single to center field and then Rian O'Bannon cashed in another run on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. On that same play, William Carey committed their second error of the inning as first baseman Shana Beckman misplayed a throw from the outfield opening the door for Hess to cross the plate. Leading 5-2, Burns had all the run support she needed limiting the Crusaders to just one base runner over the final three innings.

Four Belhaven hitters had multi hit games led by Wright who went 3 for 3 with a double and a run scored. Hess was 2 for 3 with two runs batted in followed by Jaques who collected two hits in four trips to the plate with one RBI. CeCee Austin was 2 for 3 and O'Bannon had one hit and one run batted in. Burns tossed a complete game in the circle allowing only two runs on three hits. She walked only one and struck out eight leading to her 34th win of the season.

Barber had the only two RBI's for William Carey on the home run in the first inning. Tan Montgomery and Jasmine Shelby each had singles to account for the Crusaders other two hits in the game. Anna Ard got the start for William Carey in the circle and suffered the loss working 3.1 innings. Ard was charged with three runs on five hits before giving way to Kelsey Jo Smith who permitted the other two scores on five hits in 2.2 innings in the center of the diamond.

Game Two vs. Oregon Tech
Belhaven fell behind in the second game 3-1 after four innings, but this time the Blazers were not able to rally against 18th ranked Oregon Tech. The Owls scored first in the top of the first when Shauna Collins tripled to left center and scored on an illegal pitch by Burns to make it 1-0. Belhaven answered with a run in the bottom of the first to tie the score at 1-1 as Jaques walked and came around to score on an Austin single.

Oregon Tech took the lead in the third when Andria Wheatley ripped the third Owls triple of the game to begin the inning. With one out, Jess Plummer bunted her in on a squeeze play to give Oregon Tech a 2-1 lead. The Owls then made it 3-1 in the fourth on a Wheatley RBI single that chased home pinch runner Elise Goodell.

Belhaven pulled to within one in the bottom of the fifth when Hess scored on an error by second baseman Ashleigh Larson. Hess had reached on a fielder's choice and moved to third on a base hit off the bat of Jaques. In the next at bat, Jaques stole second and the throw to second got away from Larson enabling Hess to score and Jaques to go to third with one out. The Blazers missed an opportunity to tie the game as relief pitcher Jackie Imhof struck out O'Bannon and got Annalee Carr to ground out to end the inning. Oregon tech went on to add an insurance run in the sixth on a Collins RBI double which extended the lead to 4-2.

Belhaven's offense was limited to five hits with two of them being credited to Jaques. Austin had one hit and the only RBI followed by Sanders and O'Bannon with one hit each. Burns (34-8) was charged with just her eighth loss of the year as she worked another complete game allowing four runs on 12 hits. Burns did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Collins, Wheatley, Plummer, Bree Larson, and Kayde Shaefer all had two hits for Oregon Tech with Collins, Wheatley, and Plummer notching RBI's. Taylor Schmidt started and pitched 4.1 innings allowing both Blazer runs on four hits. Imhof was credited with a save as she worked the final 2.2 frames and did not allow a run while issuing just one hit.

Belhaven will now face Oklahoma City University in an elimination game Monday night at 5:30 PM. The winner moves on to the final four to play the winner of the William Carey and Cal State San Marcos game which is also scheduled for 5:30. Belhaven topped Oklahoma City 2-1 in the only meeting of the season on February 19th. Fans can follow all the action through live stats by clicking here. Fans can also view the game online on a pay per view basis by clicking here.