COLUMBIA, Mo. – The nation’s leading hitter, DePaul third baseman Amber Patton, broke out of her regional hitting slump by going 2-for-3 with a 2-run double, leading 20th-ranked DePaul (39-13) to a 2-1 victory against an upstart Bradley squad in an elimination game at the Columbia Regional Saturday night at University Field.  The No. 15 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, DePaul advances to Sunday’s Columbia Regional championship round against host Missouri (47-9), while Bradley’s season ends with a 26-28 record.

After Ashley Birdsong worked around a two-out walk in the top of the first, Bradley jumped on top in the home half of the opening frame, thanks to some wildness by both the DePaul starting pitcher, Becca Heteniak, and catcher, Simone Ashkar.  Janay Mitchell drew a one-out walk and Alycia Bachkora was hit by a pitch on the next Heteniak offering.  The Braves executed a double-steal, and when Ashkar’s throw to third skipped into left field, Mitchell came home with the game’s first run.  The Braves tried to apply more pressure with a squeeze bunt attempt, but Miriam Wegmann popped up the bunt and Jackie Vitale grounded out to leave Bachkora at third.

Birdsong had allowed only one hit through the first four innings, but the Blue Demons used a two-out rally to take the lead.  DePaul’s No. 9 hitter, Shea Warren, started the rally with a two-out single to centerfield.  After fouling a ball off her own face, first baseman Jacki Tarulli-Fisher recovered and blooped a single to left that got past Janay Mitchell, allowing the runners to get to second and third.  Patton then went opposite field with a double that hit off the base of the wall in left field for DePaul’s only runs in two games against Bradley in the regional.

Ashley Birdsong (20-12), who threw the final 85.0 innings of Bradley’s season, turned in another strong performance Friday night, but Heteniak (26-8) was up to the challenge.  The DePaul hurler settled in and limited the Braves to the lone run on one hit with eight strikeouts in her complete-game effort.