Chattanooga State gave the once top-ranked Wallace State softball team its first and last losses of the 2022 season.
There were only two in between, but the eighth-seeded Lady Tigers advanced past the third-seeded Alabama squad, 9-7, in an elimination game Thursday in the NJCAA Division I national tournament in Yuma, Arizona.
They then faced 14th seed Paris (Texas), which had sent Wallace State to the losers bracket, in the last game of the night.
Two other Texas teams, fifth and seventh seeds Odessa and McLennan, square off Friday in the winners-bracket final.
Chattanooga State (55-9) got hits from its first four batters and a two-run home run from its sixth, Maggie Knight, in taking a quick 5-0 lead and was up 9-2 through four innings. Ashlyn Holland was 2-for-3 with a homer and four RBIs for the Lady Tigers, and Camryn Cernuto was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Marquila Howell, Taylor Penning and Katlin Leverette each had two hits, Leverette batting in two runs.
For Wallace State (56-4), Sarah Beth Brake was 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs off Sam Ryan (23-4), and Olivia Ball homered, doubled and drove in three.