MINNEAPOLIS — (1) Omaha advanced to the Summit League Softball Championship final Friday by eliminating (6) South Dakota State, 8-0 in five innings.
The three-time defending tournament champion will face (4) South Dakota in the championship round beginning at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.
South Dakota defeated Omaha 1-0 on Thursday. The Mavericks took two of three from USD to close the regular season.
On Friday, Omaha led 1-0 through three innings despite being held hitless. The Mavericks scored in the first when Rylinn Groff was hit by a pitch, advanced to third with two outs and came home on a throwing error during Katherine Johnson's stolen base attempt.
The pivotal sequence came between the bottom of the third and top of the fourth.
South Dakota State opened the third with consecutive singles, but Maddia Groff escaped the jam with three strikeouts, including the final two with the bases loaded.
Omaha carried that momentum into the fourth, where four hits and three walks fueled a six-run inning.
Sammy Schmidt started the rally with an RBI double, followed by run-scoring contributions from Emma Durr (single), Taylor Sedlacek (bases-loaded walk) and Bailey Sample (single). Marra Cramer capped the inning with a two-run single after drawing a leadoff walk.
Schmidt doubled again to open the fifth and later scored on Ava Rongisch's sacrifice fly to seal the run-rule victory.
Maddia Groff and Alexis Wiggins combined to scatter six hits in the shutout. Groff worked 3 2/3 innings to earn the win and improve to 18-7.
