SPRINGFIELD, ILL. – It took two hours and 53 minutes and 13 innings of play, but the sixth-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis softball team completed the upset, knocking off second-seeded and No. 19 ranked Illinois Springfield, 2-0, on Friday in the winner's game of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
 
With the win, the Tritons (35-22) advance to tomorrow's sub-regional final at 11 a.m. against an opponent yet to be determined. An 'if necessary game' would follow should UMSL lose the first game in the double elimination tournament. The winner then advances to next weekend's super regional against the winner of the Grand Valley State sub-regional in a best of three series.
 
The game was a classics pitcher's duel that featured a combined 12 hits – six by each team. UMSL's Carly Kingery tossed a perfect game for six and two-thirds of an inning for the second straight outing before allowing a two-out single in the seventh. Likewise, UIS's Jaycee Carver saw her no-hit bid ended in the top of the seventh when junior Chelsea Martinez found an opening on the right side of the field for the game's first hit.
 
The Tritons finally broke through in the 13^th on a two-out double from junior Serena Olson. Junior Reagan Osborn reached on a single to left field and made it to second as the fielder struggled to pick up the ball. Four straight balls then put senior Jennah Perryman on base before Olson's gapper to right center sent them both home.
 
The Prairie Stars didn't go down quietly, however, in the final half-inning, putting their two leadoffs on base. A sac bunt put the runners at second and third, but Kingery recorded a strikeout before inducing a pop fly to end the game.
 
Kingery finished with a career-high 17 strikeouts and didn't not allow a walk in her second straight shutout.
 
Osborn and Olson tallied two hits each, while Perryman reached base twice on a pair of walks.