St. Mary's (Texas) had two chances to win the Division II Softball Championship and made the second one count with a 4-0 victory over Grand Valley State May 20.

The Rattlers had proceeded through the finals without a loss until Grand Valley State forced a title rematch with a 1-0 win May 19.

"The kids came back fired up and were ready to win," said Donna Fields, St. Mary's head coach. "Last night they were talking about the end and not the present. Today it was totally different. It wasn't over until the last ball."

The Rattlers' ready-to-play attitude resulted in two runs in their opening at-bat. Shortstop Natalie Hill reached on a walk and took advantage of a wild pitch later in the inning to score the first run. Pam Salinas would give St. Mary's another run when she singled with two outs.

St. Mary's scored in the top of the third when Veronica Garcia drove in Hill and again in the sixth when Ashley Boedecker singled up the middle to score Kristin Simmons.

Meanwhile, sophomore Kym Kling was holding Grand Valley State scoreless and to no more than one hit in any inning.

"I kept the ball low so they kept it on the ground," Kling said. "I didn't want to give them a ball that they could hit over the fence."

Kling's grounding of the Lakers, along with four wins in the tournament, earned her most outstanding player honors. She allowed only two runs in 39.1 innings over five days and tallied 40 strikeouts.

"We couldn't bunch hits together to score any runs," said Doug Woods, Grand Valley State coach. "We couldn't get our offense in gear. But, if you would have asked someone if we would have been in the final game, no one would have given us too many votes."

St. Mary's handed Grand Valley State an 8-0 loss in six innings to send the Lakers to the loser's bracket earlier in the tournament. Grand Valley State persevered with an elimination-round win over Bloomsburg. The Rattlers ousted Cal State Chico to advance to the title round. Both finalists were playing in their first national championship game.

Kling was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Hill, Garcia, Boedecker, Tanya Medina and Liz Hunt. Grand Valley State placed Jennifer Mackson, Sara Vroegindewey, Kerri Jonas and Jen Goldschemeding. Bloomsburg's Lisa Mull and Cal State Chico's Kamala Kiffe and Katie Stokx also were honored.

Championship summary

Regionals: North Central -- North Dakota St. 2, Truman 1; Augustana (S.D.) 2, Neb.-Omaha 1; St. Cloud St. 2, Minn.-Duluth 1; Neb.-Omaha 8, Truman 3; Minn.-Duluth 3, Neb.-Omaha 2; St. Cloud St. 2, Augustana (S.D.) 1; North Dakota St. 3, Minn.-Duluth 0; North Dakota St. 4, St. Cloud St. 2; St. Cloud St. 3, Augustana (S.D.) 0; St. Cloud St. 11, North Dakota St. 4; North Dakota St. 7, St. Cloud St. 5. (North Dakota St. advances.)

South Central -- St. Mary's (Tex.) 2, Regis (Colo.) 1; Central Okla. 3, Mesa St. 2; Tex. A&M-Kingsville 8, Texas Woman's 0 (6 inn.); Mesa St. 5, Regis (Colo.) 4; Texas Woman's 6, Mesa St. 3; Tex. A&M-Kingsville 1, Central Okla. 0; St. Mary's (Tex.) 8, Texas Woman's 0 (5 inn.); St. Mary's (Tex.) 6, Tex. A&M-Kingsville 2; Tex. A&M-Kingsville 4, Central Okla. 0; St. Mary's (Tex.) 10, Tex. A&M-Kingsville 5. [St. Mary's (Tex.) advances.]

South -- Barry 6, Kentucky St. 0; Tampa 2, Delta St. 1; Valdosta St. 5, St. Leo 2; Delta St. 10, Kentucky St. 0 (5 inn.); St. Leo 2, Delta St. 0; Tampa 6, Valdosta St. 5; Barry 2, St. Leo 0; Barry 1, Tampa 0; Valdosta St. 5, Tampa 0; Barry 1, Valdosta St. 0. (Barry advances.)

South Atlantic -- North Fla. 8, Longwood 0 (5 inn.); Armstrong Atlantic 2, Lenoir-Rhyne 1; Kennesaw St. 5, Coker 4; Longwood 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 1; Coker 4, Longwood 0; Kennesaw St. 4, Armstrong Atlantic 3; Coker 7, North Fla. 4; North Fla. 4, Armstrong Atlantic 3; Kennesaw St. 6, Coker 2; Kennesaw St. 5, North Fla. 3. (Kennesaw St. advances.)

Northeast -- American Int'l 3, Merrimack 0; St. Anselm 7, C.W. Post 1; Le Moyne 1, Southern Conn. St. 0; C.W. Post 8, Merrimack 0; C.W. Post 6, Southern Conn. St. 3; Le Moyne 5, St. Anselm 0; American Int'l 6, C. W. Post 2; Le Moyne 5, American Int'l 2; American Int'l 2, St. Anselm 1; Le Moyne 7, American Int'l 3. (Le Moyne advances.)

West -- UC Davis 1, Humboldt St. 0; Western N.M. 3, Cal St. Chico 2; Cal St. Bakersfield 3, UC San Diego 0; Cal St. Chico 5, Humboldt St. 4; Cal St. Chico 4, UC San Diego 0; Cal St. Bakersfield 2, Western N.M. 0 (9 inn.); Cal St. Chico 2, UC Davis 1; UC Davis 2, Western N.M. 0; Cal St. Chico 5, Cal St. Bakersfield 0; Cal St. Bakersfield 2, UC Davis 0; Cal St. Chico 3, Cal St. Bakersfield 1. (Cal St. Chico advances.)

Mid-Atlantic -- Bloomsburg 12, Elizabeth City St. 1 (5 inn.); Calif. (Pa.) 10, Indiana (Pa.) 0 (6 inn.); Lock Haven 6, Shippensburg 5; Indiana (Pa.) 14, Elizabeth City St. 3 (5 inn.); Shippensburg 15, Indiana (Pa.) 10; Calif. (Pa.) 4, Lock Haven 2; Bloomsburg 11, Shippensburg 3 (5 inn.); Bloomsburg 2, Calif. (Pa.) 0; Lock Haven 6, Calif. (Pa.) 1; Bloomsburg 9, Lock Haven 0 (6 inn.). (Bloomsburg advances.)

Great Lakes -- Ashland 1, SIU-Edwardsville 0; West Va. Wesleyan 4, Wayne St. (Mich.) 3; Grand Valley St. 1, Northern Ky. 0; SIU-Edwardsville 1, Wayne St. (Mich.) 0; SIU-Edwardsville 7, Northern Ky. 3; Grand Valley St. 5, West Va. Wesleyan 0; Ashland 2, SIU-Edwardsville 1; Grand Valley St. 2, Ashland 0 (10 inn.); Ashland 2, West Va. Wesleyan 1; Grand Valley St. 4, Ashland 1. (Grand Valley St. advances.)

Finals

Game No. 1

Jennifer Mackson and Emily Roberts; Geralyn Elam and Carrie Roberts. W -- Mackson. L -- Elam.

Game No. 2

Lindsey Graham and Amy Huberty; Katie Stokx and Bridgette Overstreet. W -- Stokx. L -- Graham.

Game No. 3

Kym Kling and Liz Hunt; Marnie Sundberg, Susan Sugar (7) and Kim Kalec. W -- Kling. L -- Sundberg.

Game No. 4

Lisa Macki, Tara Hrycuik (4) and Lori Cassell; Amber Cowher and Melanie Anderson. W -- Cowher. L -- Macki.

Game No. 5

Geralyn Elam and Carrie Roberts; Lindsey Graham and Kristi Henrichsen. W -- Elam. L -- Graham.

Game No. 6

Lisa Macki, Tara Hrycuik (3) and Lori Cassell; Marnie Sundberg and Kim Kalec. W -- Sundberg. L -- Macki.

Game No. 7

Jennifer Mackson and Emily Roberts; Erin McCulloch, Katie Stokx (3) and Bridgette Overstreet. W -- Mackson. L -- McCulloch.

Game No. 8

Amber Cowher, Kerri Cooper (5) and Melanie Anderson; Kym Kling and Liz Hunt. W -- Kling. L -- Cowher.

Game No. 9

Marnie Sundberg and Kim Kalec; Katie Stokx and Bridgette Overstreet. W -- Stokx. L -- Sundberg.

Game No. 10

Geralyn Elam and Carrie Roberts; Kerri Cooper and Melanie Anderson. W -- Cooper. L -- Elam.

Game No. 11

Jennifer Mackson, Amber Castonguay (4) and Bobbi Conner, Emily Roberts; Kym Kling and Liz Hunt. W -- Kling. L -- Mackson.

Game No. 12

Kym Kling, Amanda Bayless (6) and Liz Hunt; Katie Stokx and Bridgette Overstreet. W --Bayless. L -- Stokx.

Game No. 13

Amber Cowher and Melanie Anderson; Jennifer Mackson and Emily Roberts. W --Mackson. L -- Cowher.

Game No. 14

Kym Kling and Liz Hunt; Jennifer Mackson and Emily Roberts. W -- Mackson. L -- Kling.

Championship game

E --Survant. DP -- Grand Valley St. 1. LOB -- St. Mary's (Tex.) 6, Grand Valley St. 6. 2B -- Simmons. SH -- Crawford, Ballinger. SB -- Hill, Salinas, Fuentas.

W -- Kling. L -- Mackson. WP -- Mackson. U -- Angle Elizalde, Laura Nesteriak, Ken Friesen, David Frye. T -- 1:39. Attendance -- 159.