EAST PEORIA, ILL. - For the fourth time in the last five years, the University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament champions!
 
The No. 3 seeded Tritons shut out No. 4 seed Truman State, 5-0, on Saturday to earn the tournament's automatic bid to the NCAA DII Tournament.
 
A solo home run from senior Erin Walker and a grand slam from redshirt freshman Morgan Hill provided the offense, while sophomore Carly Kingery tossed her third shutout of the tournament in the complete game one-hitter.
 
UMSL improves to 39-13 overall, with 13 wins in its last 14 games, and will find out from the NCAA on Monday at 9 a.m. who its first opponent will be when the tournament field is unveiled live on ncaa.com.
 
Walker's long ball came on her first pitch in the top of the first inning with five scoreless innings following with no runners coming home, despite Truman loading the bases in the bottom half of the sixth. A leadoff error halted Kingery's perfect game, while a walk and the Bulldogs' only hit – a single from GLVC Player of the Year Christa Reisinger – loaded the bases. But Kingery struck out the next two to get out of the jam.
 
UMSL matched a bases-load scenario in the top of the seventh with Hill coming to the plate and delivering her first collegiate home run.
 
The Tritons tallied nine hits, including two each from sophomore Serena Olson and senior Ryan Logan.
 
Kingery struck out seven and finished the tournament with a 0.50 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 28 innings tossed. She also limited her opponents to a .198 batting average.