SALEM, Va. -- Minnesota State advanced to the national championship game with a 5-2 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday night.

The Mavericks (62-7) fell behind early, but ace Coley Ries settled in and kept the Bobcats (51-10) off-balance for much of the evening. Ries (39-3) gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits with eight strikeouts.

"After the first inning, I think Coley really got into a groove," said Minnesota State head coach Lori Meyer. "In every first inning there's a feeling-out process, you see how aggressive they're coming out. We hadn't gotten to see a lot of West Virginia Wesleyan, so we had to see what adjustments we had to make to their hitters and see what zone you're going to get. You've got to just kind of work through that first inning."

Alyssa Rickels went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Ashley Thell hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to add some much-needed insurance. Jess Meidl and Carly Esselman each had two hits for Minnesota State.

West Virginia Wesleyan got off to a solid start against Ries in the bottom of the first as Olivia Gore scored Brooklyn Waddell to go up 1-0. Minnesota State answered quickly in the top of the second on an RBI single from Rickels. The Mavericks then went ahead in the top of the third as an errant throw to catch Meidl stealing allowed her to score.
The score held until the seventh when Thell homered to right center to make it 4-1. Samantha Buhmann added the fifth run with an RBI double.

The Bobcats attempted to rally in their final at-bat, getting two runners on with just one out, but another strikeout for Ries took WVWC down to its final out. Pogue was able to push across a run with a bunt single, but Ries was able to induce the final out on a fly ball to center.

"It was a heck of a run for these ladies, they accomplished a lot," Wesleyan head coach Steve Warner said. "I've said before that arguably we've had better teams in the past, but I can't say that now. This team exceeded all expectations."

Information provided courtesy of NCAA