Ali Ashner homered in the top of the seventh inning to lead Phoenix to a 4-3 victory over sixth-seeded LSU-Eunice, earning a spot in the winners' bracket finals at the NJCAA Division II Softball National Championship.
Ashner's homer broke a 3-3 tie and provided the margin to allow the Bears to face No. 4-seed Murray State in the winners' bracket final at approximately 4:00 p.m. Arizona time Saturday.
PC trailed LSU-E 3-1 after three innings, but bounced back to tie the game in the fifth.
Ashner had a huge game, going 4-4 and driving in two, including the game-winner. Natalie Castro contributed two hits.
Earlier in the day, the Bears scored five in the fourth inning and then six more in the sixth to knock off Kirkwoood.
Ali Ashner led the PC attack with three hits, all doubles. Kamryn Moctezuma added three hits of her own with two RBIs. Teagen Dobson had two hits, one of which was a home run and Aubrey Chavez also collected two hits. April Garcia contributed three RBIs.
