Nicole Breeding pitched a shutout Saturday, leading the host Regis University softball team to a 5-0 victory over Colorado-Colorado Springs and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament championship, carrying an automatic bid to the South Central Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The RMAC title game was scoreless until the fifth inning, when tournament MVP Sharita Richmond hit a two-run homer. Michelle Johnston added a solo shot two batters later, and the Rangers scored two more runs in the sixth. Breeding (18-4) was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher.
It was the last game for UCCS catcher Crystal Krebs, who set a Division II record for home runs per game (0.52) with 25 homers in 48 games. Krebs finished one homer short of the Division II season record of 26, set by Jackie Aiken of Wisconsin- Parkside in 1996.
Mustangs back in RMAC
Western New Mexico officials accepted an invitation to rejoin the RMAC.
The school in Silver City, N.M., defected from the RMAC in the summer of 1990, but athletic director Scott Woodard says the Mustangs are back where they belong.
“The discussion as to why we ever left has come up a million times and no one here can recall how or why it ever happened,” Woodard said.
Membership takes effect with the 2006-07 school year.
Western New Mexico will replace Fort Hays (Kan.) State, which announced in April its intention to join the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.Commissioner J.R. Smith said Western is an ideal fit for the RMAC because it plays football, as Fort Hays does.
Mines stopped in tennis
The Colorado Mines men’s tennis team failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 in Division II. The Ore- diggers (18-11) lost 5-0 in the second round of the North Central Regional in Bolivar, Mo., to Southwest Baptist. Mines beat Truman State on Friday to advance to the second round.
Stags end DU’s season
Fairfield scored four power- play goals and defeated the University of Denver 9-8 to win the Great Western Lacrosse League’s automatic bid to the men’s NCAA Tournament.
DU (9-5) and Fairfield (11-4) both were 4-1 in league play, but the host Stags earned the bid with their head-to-head win.
“It is difficult to end the season with a loss,” DU coach Jamie Munro said, “but I am proud of our guys. I thought we played tough and fought hard, but it is so difficult to see the season end this way.”
Steph Greenlees’ five goals led the DU women’s lacrosse team (8-11) to a 10-8 victory over Cal-Davis (10-9) and third place at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament in Moraga, Calif.
Metro splits in baseball
Mike Bilek pitched a rain- shortened, three-hit shutout in powering Metro State (26-25, 12-12 RMAC) to a 5-0 win over host Nebraska-Kearney in the five-inning second game of a conference doubleheader.
The Antelopes (20-31, 7-17) won the opener 6-5 on a two- run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning by Travis Kerkman. It was Kerkman’s 12th home run of the season.
