Alma won its NCAA Division III softball regional, while Trine went down to defeat in the regional finals on Sunday.
The Scots, who came within one out of winning the MIAA tournament last weekend, rode the right arm of sophomore Morgan Stratton to an 8-0 win over Simpson, Iowa, to win the regional at Illinois Wesleyan. Alma now moves on to play Lake Forest, Ill., which defeated Hope twice on Saturday to win its regional, in the Division III super regional next weekend.
The Thunder, who won the MIAA championship and the league tournament, defeated Thomas More, Ky., 4-0, to get to the championship round in the DePauw, Ind. regional, but fell to the host Tigers 7-5 to see their season end at 39-5.
Alma (28-15), which was the No. 4 seed in the Illinois Wesleyan regional, won all three of its regional contests over the weekend, as Stratton allowed only one run in 22 innings pitched. On Sunday, she threw a 5-hitter, struck out two and walked two.
The championship game started out like Alma's first two contests, with the pitchers dominating. The Scots scored an unearned run in the first for a 1-0 lead, and that edge held up through four innings.
However, the Alma bats came alive late. Devin Olah's two-run single in the fifth made it 3-0 in favor of the Scots, and another run scored in the sixth on an illegal pitch. Then Alma erased any hopes of a Simpson comeback with four runs in the seventh, as Olah drove in her third run of the day with a double, Mary Brooks singled in a run and Brooke Hein belted a two-run triple.
Stratton, who was the MIAA leader in earned run average in conference play this season, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while Olah and Anna Couture was named to the All-Tournament team.
At DePauw, Trine avenged an earlier tournament loss against Thomas More, as Bree Fuller shut out the Saints on a 3-hitter and Leah Hall delivered a three-run double. The game was completed Sunday morning after darkness suspended the contest after four innings on Saturday.
In the championship round, Trine jumped out to a 3-0 lead over DePauw after two innings as Carly Searles scored on an error in the first, and Hall and Rachel Harris delivered RBI doubles in the second.
But the Tigers stormed back, scoring four runs in the third and two in the fourth for a 6-3 lead. Kaitlyn Clark doubled in a run in the sixth for Trine to cut the lead to 6-4, but DePauw got that run back in the bottom of the inning.
Amy Newell homered to lead off the seventh to make it 7-5, and a pinch-hit single by Erica Robles brought the tying run to the plate. But the next three Thunder batters went down at DePauw hung on for the win.
Fuller, Searles and Kaylee Fox were named to the all-tournament team.
Searles concluded her career as the NCAA Division III all-time leader with 306 career hits, 261 runs scored and 48 triples.
