POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – The No. 21 Ithaca College softball team took down No. 3 Texas-Tyler on Saturday afternoon to survive and advance as one of the four teams left in the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.
 
The Bombers move on to play No. 1 Virginia Wesleyan tomorrow at 12 p.m. (1 p.m. ET). With a win, IC would play the Marlins again at 5:30 p.m. to determine who heads to the championship series.
 
It was Texas-Tyler that got on the board first, in the bottom of the first inning. Victoria Gonzales drew and Ashley Perez both drew walks before Andrea Gonzalez singled up the middle, driving in Victoria Gonzalez for the first run of the game.
 
Ithaca came out in the top of the second inning, however, to score five runs and take the lead.
 
Nikkey Skuraton led off with a single up the middle. Hannah Peters then reached on a third base fielding error and Skuraton raced to third to put herself in scoring position. Peters stole second and Annie Cooney drew a walk to load the bases for the Bombers with no outs.
 
Both Skuraton and Peters went on to score when senior Allie Colleran drilled a double to the left center fence to give IC a 2-1 lead.
 
Vanessa Brown followed that up with a single to center and advanced to second on a throwing error, which sent Colleran to third and allowed Cooney to score.
 
The final two runs of the inning were drive in by junior Alex Wright, who sent a single up the middle, pushing Colleran and Brown home to give the Bombers a 5-1 lead.
 
Both teams had several chances to score more runs throughout the game.
 
In the top of the fourth, Colleran singled to second base before Brown drew a walk. Wright reached on a fielder's choice to put runners on first and second, but both runners were left stranded.
 
Texas-Tyler followed suit in the bottom of the inning, leaving three runners on base.
 
Kailey Henderson led off with a double down the left field line before Dariann Resendez drew a walk. Nicole Garcia singled to left field to load the bases, but Hannah Anderson made two plays at short to end the inning with no damage done.
 
In the bottom of the seventh inning with one out, Texas-Tyler put together a rally that would push one more run through.
 
Victoria Gonzalez drew a walk before Perez send a double to center which put runners on the corners. Natalie Romeno, who was pinch running for Gonzalez, scored on an Andrea Gonzalez ground out to short. The Bombers ended the rally as Makayla Dominguez lined out to Anderson at short for the last out.
 
The Bombers not only recorded seven hits at the plate, they also had a stellar day in the field as both Anderson and Skuraton made diving plays to end innings for IC.
 
Colleran went 3-for-4 on the day with two RBI and one run scored. Wright finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and one walk. Brown also went 1-for-3 on the day with one RBI and a run scored.
 
Haley Congdon pitched a complete game, allowing two runs and scattering seven hits across seven innings. She also struck out two Tyler batters on the day to earn the win and improve to 15-3 on the day.