Sweet Home Alabama - Lady Yotes headed to Women's World Series
The Southern Rock ballad "Sweet Home Alabama" will be blaring from The College of Idaho charter bus non-stop on their trip home from Klamath Falls, Ore., as the Lady Yotes clinched their first-ever berth in the NAIA Women's Softball World Series with a 6-3 victory over Oregon Tech in the title game of the 2008 NAIA Region I Tournament.
With the victory, the Coyotes (27-17) advance to next weekend's event at Wilson-Morgan Softball Complex in Decatur, Ala., beginning Friday. It marks the first time that a Cascade Conference team has advanced to the World Series since Concordia made the trip in 2001.
OIT (36-14), who had to rally to defeat top-seeded Simon Fraser in this morning's elimination game, took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame on a Katie King sacrifice fly, but the Yotes would come back, as Dani Villyard hit a solo home run in the second to tie the score. After Amber Sinicrope scored on a wild pitch to give Tech a 2-1 lead in the third, the Coyotes used the longball again in the bottom of the inning, as Katie Zillner hit a two-run bomb, followed by Villyard's second homer of the day to make it 4-2. Donnae Carrell added a two-run shot in the fourth to make it 6-2 - as the Coyotes set a school record with four homers on the day.
Tech would not go quietly, getting a Brittany Warren RBI single in the fifth to make it 6-3, but ran themselves out of the inning as Katie King was thrown out by right fielder Stacy Smith trying to from first-to-third on the hit. OIT would bring the tying run to the plate both the sixth and seventh, but Zillner worked out of the trouble - getting Sunny Titus to pop out to end the threat in the sixth and Bess Fagan hit a screaming line drive to Stephanie Stover to end the game.
Villyard went 3-for-3 for the Yotes, with Titus and Fagan each recording two hits for OIT. Zillner picked up her 17th win of the season, striking out eight in her 20th-complete game of the season.
The whirlwind will continue for the Coyotes, as Saturday morning, the team will walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, then most likely leave Wednesday for Alabama. For travel information, contact Uniglobe VIP travel at 467-7499, with the team staying at the Country Inn and Suites in Decatur (reservations at 256-355-6800).